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Manuel Santana, the most successful player in Spanish Davis Cup history and 1966 Wimbledon champion, landed on the front page of the country’s leading sports daily newspaper, Marca, when he predicted a 5-0 victory and called U.S. captain John McEnroe “a clown.”

Well, send in the clowns.

Santana moved two matches closer to his home crowd-pleasing prediction--not exactly a huge leap--after the first day of this Davis Cup semifinal between Spain and the United States. On Friday, Albert Costa opened with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Todd Martin, and Alex Corretja made it 2-0 when he survived an early surge of baseline power, defeating Jan-Michael Gambill, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, in a 3-hour 18-minute match in front of about 13,000 spectators.

As for the so-called payaso, McEnroe the clown was practically on his best behavior, only drawing jeers when he crossed over to the other side of the court to offer Gambill advice in the second set.

But the Spanish have been trying to create something out of nothing, blaming McEnroe for all ills, noting he showed up to the draw late with his team Thursday, noting he accidentally broke the camera of a youngster and noting that he arrived at the captains’ meeting the other day, in, oh no, a robe.

What next? Holding McEnroe responsible if the vintage white wine at the snooty host club, the Real Sociedad de Tenis, isn’t properly chilled?

This is what happens when suspense is buried under an avalanche of slow red clay. Corretja, a French Open finalist in 1998, and Costa are two of the top 10, possibly five, clay-court players in the world. And the best clay-court player in the country, 20-year-old Juan Carlos Ferrero, who reached the French Open semifinals in June, is hanging out on the sideline, waiting for an opening in the lineup, possibly Sunday.

“This isn’t going to get any easier. When you are down 2-0 on your worst surface, you have to dig deep to find a glass that’s half full,” McEnroe said. “I think everyone that knows anything about tennis knows we weren’t having a great chance to win.

“This is tailor-made for them. If they can’t take advantage of this, they’re going to win the Davis Cup in year 3000.”

The United States has rallied from a 2-0 deficit only once in Davis Cup competition, in 1934 against Australia. Spain, which has never won the Davis Cup, has not played in the final in 33 years.

Spain’s long wait could be over after today’s doubles match. The Spanish team has indicated Corretja will play with Juan Balcells, but changes can be made until an hour beforehand.

McEnroe said Martin’s energy level isn’t high enough to play three matches in three days, and he appeared to be lagging in the latter stages against Costa.

One scenario for today has Chris Woodruff playing with Gambill, and Martin resting, McEnroe said. Another has Martin and Woodruff as the doubles team and either Vince Spadea or Woodruff playing the other singles match Sunday.

Still, after a stream of blows--the loss of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi to injuries--there was one bright spot, albeit faint. After Costa energized the crowd with a methodical victory over a poor-serving Martin, Gambill showed some clay-court moxie and charisma against Corretja. He blew Corretja away with a series of winners, taking the first set in 31 minutes. Corretja said he felt Gambill played better against him than Agassi or Sampras would have.

Gambill had chances for an early service break in the second set but let them slip away. In fact, Gambill and Martin were hard-pressed to convert on their chances, going a combined five for 20 on break-point opportunities.

After breaking Corretja twice in the first set, Gambill went one for 10 on break-point chances in the final three sets. He was angered by that shortcoming, especially remembering plenty of shots at Corretja’s second serve.

“It was a tough match. I had a lot of opportunities,” Gambill said. “There’s really no excuse for me not to win. . . . I didn’t want to come here and lose.”

Gambill, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist this year, has made a concerted effort to improve his clay-court game. His ability on the surface is increasing, but Corretja eventually wore down his game and confidence.

“No one has walked in here with a lot of confidence,” McEnroe said. “Clay has an awful way of making you less confident. Especially American guys. It just has an ugly way of doing it--you think you are hitting the ball great and suddenly you can’t find the court, and there are 10,000 people hoping you miss a lot of balls.”

Because the U.S. team has often struggled in 2000, there have been questions about McEnroe’s desire to continue as captain. He has been frustrated, trying to put teams together amid a run of injuries. But Friday he revealed he has a three-year contract and, surprisingly, seemed more positive than earlier in the week.

“One thing I’m not going to say is, ‘That’s it. I quit.’ ” he said. “If we lose or whatever. One of the things I would have done when I was younger was make one of those spur-of-the-moment statements.

“Let it sink in, just appreciate there are a lot of good [things]. Time to dwell on the positive. It’s just like my own career: Do you want to dwell on the negative or dwell on the positive? As you get away and realize, ‘Hey, this was a great job,’ you dwell on the wins instead of all the losses.”

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AGASSI STILL

HAS EYE

ON L.A.

Andre Agassi might not have been up to playing for the U.S. in the Davis Cup semifinals, but it appears he will be competing in next week’s Mercedes-Benz Cup at UCLA. Page 5