Nothing Is Easy for U.S.

This time, it was Chile, not Croatia -- Fernando Gonzalez, not Ivan Ljubicic -- inflicting the damage against the United States in Davis Cup on the opening day.

Another country, another hero.

He can be a hero, only for one day. Well, hopefully for only one day, if you are a U.S. Davis Cup fan, not the three-day hero Ljubicic became last year in the first round.

Gonzalez comfortably wore that tag, dropping to the grass court on his back in celebration after hitting four aces in the final game, completing a stirring comeback Friday against James Blake at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. Blake was two points from winning in straight sets before it unraveled, starting with an over-rule late in the third set.

That was the beginning of the end. Gonzalez won, 6-7 (5), 0-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 10-8, in 4 hours 20 minutes, rallying from a 1-4 deficit in the fifth set and thrilling a large contingent of Chilean fans on hand. The fifth set lasted nearly an hour and a half. Blake has never won a five-setter, going 0-7.

Blake was not thrilled when reminded. “You want to kick my dog, too, while you’re here?” he said.

Later, Andy Roddick salvaged the day for the U.S., leveling the quarterfinal, 1-1, needing two tiebreakers to put away a persistent Nicolas Massu before the light faded. Roddick won, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), in 2 hours and 42 minutes, hitting 14 aces and double-faulting twice.

“I was excited I could have James’ back today, like he had mine in San Diego,” Roddick said. “When he went down, I really wanted to go out there and get it for him. He covered my [behind] in San Diego [against Romania] and really saved the tie.”

Today’s doubles are to feature Bob and Mike Bryan of Camarillo against Massu and Gonzalez, barring any last-minute changes in the Chilean camp.

“Optimistically, I would have liked to have had two [points] today, but we’ll take one, especially when you lose the first one,” said Dean Goldfine, who is filling in for U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe, who is in New York awaiting the birth of his child.

The Chileans were thrilled with 1-1 and the reality of playing meaningful tennis on Sunday.

“In the beginning, nobody was giving us good odds, going to be 2-0 down,” Chile’s captain Hans Gildemeister said. “We had a great game with Nicolas and Roddick. He had to play his best to beat him.

“I’m very happy because on Sunday we can do something very big. The pressure’s going to be on America on Sunday.”

Call it another move in the department of head games. The back-and-forth between teams, always fascinating in Davis Cup, did not disappoint.

Gonzalez ripped the quality of the surface, calling it “really bad,” and Gildemeister concurred, saying: “I think this is not a perfect place to play Davis Cup.”

Blake, who carries the unofficial title of the nicest man in tennis, was unusually critical of the Chileans when asked if there was some gamesmanship going on. Gonzalez twice received injury timeouts in the fifth set, and Gildemeister spent plenty of time arguing calls.

“When you take one injury timeout and get your leg rubbed and say, now it’s cramping, and before it wasn’t, you tell me what that is,” Blake said. “You think that belongs in the major leagues or bush leagues? Whatever.

“That’s Davis Cup. That’s tennis. That’s what they have to live with. That’s not me ... If they can explain it any better, be my guest. It doesn’t seem like the way Dwight Davis wrote it up.”

Gonzalez said he was really cramping, saying it was “normal” to get treatment when playing nearly 4 1/2 hours.

That wouldn’t have been an issue had Blake closed it out in three.

He served for the match at 5-4 in the third and was hit by an overrule in that game. Had there not been an overrule, Blake would have had double match point at 40-15.

“Somehow, still that made their captain complain, which was amusing to me,” Blake said. “I thought in the past maybe I’ve had girlfriends that complained a lot, but [Gildemeister] took that to a whole new level.”

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In other Davis Cup matches:

Russia took a 2-0 lead over France. Marat Safin defeated Richard Gasquet, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-1, and Nikolay Davydenko followed with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Arnaud Clement.

Australia clinched its match against Belarus, with Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley defeating Vladimir Voltchkov and Max Mirnyi, 3-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, to give Australia an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

Croatia and Argentina split their singles matches in Zagreb, and the match is tied, 1-1.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.