Romania’s Doubles Dip Benefits the U.S.

Without so much as a chest bump by the Bryan twins, the U.S. took a 2-1 lead in its first-round Davis Cup match Saturday after Romania’s Victor Hanescu became the latest victim of injury or illness at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.

With Bob and Mike Bryan, the No. 1-ranked doubles team in the world, already in control of the first set, Hanescu suffered a rib injury as he served in the seventh game of the match.

“I felt a very sharp and very strong pain,” said Hanescu, who was initially diagnosed with a tear to the ligaments attached to a rib on his left side.

Hanescu tried to continue -- doubling over in pain after one forehand winner -- but ultimately couldn’t, and he and partner Horia Tecau withdrew after losing the first set, 6-2, in 30 minutes.

The match never even grew competitive enough for the Bryans to break out their trademark chest bumps, sometimes an irritant to their opponents.

“We were saving energy,” Bob Bryan said.

“I was looking for one,” Mike said. “You brushed me off.”

The U.S. can close out the best-of-five match against Romania today by winning one of two singles matches. The first is scheduled to pit Andy Roddick -- expected back after becoming ill during a five-set loss to Andrei Pavel on Friday -- against Hanescu or, more likely, a substitute.

James Blake, who kept the U.S. from falling into a 2-0 hole Friday by defeating Hanescu, plays Pavel in the final match.

U.S. Captain Patrick McEnroe said there was virtually no way Roddick, who suffered from nausea Friday, would not play.

“Unless he wakes up and can’t walk, and I don’t see that happening,” McEnroe said. “Andy’s feeling better. His energy is pretty good.”

Hanescu is another matter.

“In this moment, the way he looks, probably not [much] chance [he’ll] play,” Romanian Captain Florin Segarceanu said.

If Hanescu, ranked No. 41, doesn’t play, Roddick’s opponent would be either Tecau, ranked 442nd, or No. 112 Razvan Sabau.

The U.S.-Romania match has been “strange,” Bob Bryan said.

“Andy got sick in a thrilling match, then Hanescu gets hurt at 4-2,” he said.

Segarceanu added a bit of intrigue with a strategic move when he substituted Tecau, 21, for Pavel as Hanescu’s doubles partner, essentially trying to preserve Pavel, 32, for today’s match against Blake after Pavel’s 3 1/2 -hour match against Roddick on Friday.

McEnroe and others also read it as essentially conceding the match to the Bryans, who defeated Hanescu and Pavel in straight sets in the first round of the Australian Open on their way to the doubles title. But Segarceanu didn’t acknowledge that.

“First of all, in Davis Cup, you never think you have no chance,” he said. “Probably when the Bryans played Croatia, you ask something similar. In Davis Cup, anything can happen.”