Courier Excels in New Role

The X-factor slowed the U.S. Davis Cup team Saturday, but the Americans rolled into the semifinals by clinching a victory over Belgium just the same.

The first twist came when Jim Courier was pressed into doubles duty for the first time in his Davis Cup career, because Richey Reneberg needs knee surgery.

The second? It turns out Belgium’s Xavier Malisse--who was making his Davis Cup debut the day before his 18th birthday--is a terrific young player.

Needing only a victory in doubles to clinch the best-of-five quarterfinal over Belgium and render the final two matches today moot, the U.S. sweated out two tiebreakers in a five-set victory by Todd Martin and Courier over Malisse and Johan Van Herck, 5-7, 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

The next step is a semifinal between the U.S. and Italy, which clinched a victory over Zimbabwe on Saturday. And U.S. captain Tom Gullikson said Saturday the team that plays Italy in September at a yet-to-be-determined site in the United States probably will look exactly like this one--no Pete Sampras, no Michael Chang.

After being turned down by Sampras and Chang the first two rounds, Gullikson is ready to stick with Andre Agassi, Courier, Martin and Reneberg, whose recovery from an arthroscopic procedure to repair torn cartilage in his left knee is expected to take three to six weeks.

“They’ve got an invitation right now,” said Gullikson, who has praised the group’s loyalty and camaraderie. “They get first right of choosing. . . . Hopefully, they accept it.”

Courier, who now has played 92 games in two days after winning a four-set match Friday, feigned disinterest.

“I don’t want to play. I’ve had it,” he said. “You guys have taken me for granted for way too long.”

Courier, you’d like to keep around. Although his record in Davis Cup singles is only 14-8, in the 12 Davis Cup rounds he has played in, the U.S. has never lost.

Courier wouldn’t comment.

“You don’t talk about a no-hitter when you’re in the dugout.”

Courier and Martin have played doubles together a couple of times but not recently, and Courier’s suspicion he would have to fill in for Reneberg became official Saturday morning.

“Apparently, Richey could have played today, but he would have been in some serious risk of hurting himself,” said Courier, who actually played better than Martin. “Todd and I know how to play tennis. It’s not that we haven’t played doubles, it’s just that we haven’t played together very much.”

Malisse and Van Herck had played together even less. But Malisse, who trains with Nick Bolletierri in Florida and has blond-streaked hair to go with his sideburns, also has a game that should make him a regular on Belgian Davis Cup teams.

“The last two [rounds] we’ve seen probably the two best young players in the world, [Marat Safin of Russia and Malisse],” Gullikson said. “I would say probably those two are the best I’ve seen.”

Courier sees Malisse’s potential too.

“There are a few young guys out there that look like they have some potential, and he’s one of them. We’ll see how it plays out. But he’s got a nice-looking game, and good hair, too.”

The idea that doubles would be a lark was put to rest in the first set, which the Belgians won, 7-5, breaking Courier’s serve in the final game.

Courier and Martin won the second set and the third went to a tiebreaker, with Malisse hitting a smash for a 3-0 lead and later, Van Herck finishing it off with a deep forehand lob to win, 7-2.

It was clear the Belgians had the Americans’ attention in the fourth set when Courier tried to nail Van Herck with an overhead, then yakked at him from across the net.

Fed up with the Belgians’ chest-bumping celebrations, Martin mocked them with a blind-side bump of Courier.

“I think the difference in the match was when Todd chest-butted me,” Courier said. “I wasn’t expecting it. I was still beating my own chest.”

The Americans needed a tiebreaker to keep from losing the match in the fourth, but that was when they took over. After falling behind, 2-0, they got back to 2-2 on Martin’s net-cord winner. A Courier overhead made it 4-3, and the Belgians started to falter with unforced errors, eventually losing, 7-5, on a double hit by Van Herck.

That was about it. The Americans broke Van Herck in the second game of the final set and Malisse in the fourth as they took a commanding 5-0 lead.

“We were fortunate enough to come up with the good stuff in the tiebreaker,” Martin said. “I think that broke their spirit a little bit. They were up a set twice, and let us back in it.”

Because today’s two singles matches are meaningless, both will be shortened to best-of-three.

Though Gullikson can substitute, either Agassi or Courier and perhaps both will play because Reneberg’s injury leaves the U.S. with only three players. If Agassi plays and wins, he’ll tie Arthur Ashe for second in U.S. Davis Cup singles victories with 27, trailing John McEnroe with 41.

Belgium will use Christophe Van Garsse, who lost in straight sets to Agassi on Friday, but the other player hadn’t been decided.