SANTIAGO, Chile (AP)—The United States split its Davis Cup matches against Chile on Friday, with Andy Roddick taking the opener and John Isner losing a five-set marathon to Paul Capdeville.
Capdeville, ranked 165th, gave Chile a big lift in the first round by rallying against Isner and winning 6-7 (5), 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Isner served 38 aces to 11 for Capdeville, but his serve was not enough. Capdeville had the only break in the next-to-last game of the 4-hour, 21-minute match when a tired Isner netted an overhead smash.
Isner is no stranger to such contests. He won the longest match in tennis history at Wimbledon last year, beating Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set after 11 hours, 5 minutes.
Roddick opened with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Nicolas Massu, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in singles and doubles. Massu had the support of a chanting crowd, but Roddick raced through the first set before the Chilean settled down.
The matches marked Jim Courier’s debut as Davis Cup captain. As a player, he helped the Americans win the Davis Cup in 1992 and 1995.
Doubles in the best-of-five World Group series is Saturday, with top-ranked Bob and Mike Bryan facing Jorge Aguilar and Massu. Reverse singles is Sunday—Roddick vs. Capdeville and Isner vs. Massu. The first-round winner plays Belgium or Spain in the quarterfinals.
The U.S. entered the series with the rankings in its favor—Roddick is No. 8 and Isner No. 32. None of the three Chileans is ranked in the top 150. Chile’s most accomplished player, Fernando Gonzalez, is sidelined with a hip injury.
Elsewhere in the first round of the World Group, four countries took 2-0 leads: Spain (over Belgium), Sweden (over Russia), Argentina (over Romania) and France (over Austria). Tied 1-1 were Serbia-India, Czech Republic-Kazakhstan and Germany-Croatia.
In Charleroi, Belgium, Rafael Nadal returned to top-level tennis with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory over 144th-ranked Ruben Bemelmans. Nadal is coming back from an injury to his left thigh, and this was his first match since his loss in the Australian Open quarterfinals.
“I felt really comfortable with myself and I felt I had the match under control,” the top-ranked Spaniard said. “It is not easy to come back after a while without competition.”
In Novi Dad, Serbia, Davis Cup champion Serbia is missing Novak Djokovic. He is fatigued after winning titles at the Australian Open and Dubai in recent weeks. India is without experienced doubles pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi because of injury.
Somdev Devvarman, ranked 629th, downed Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (3) to give India a key victory. Tipsarevic starred for Serbia in last year’s win over France in the final.
“It was obvious Tipsarevic wasn’t in the match,” Serbia captain Bogdan Obradovic said.
At Buenos Aires, Argentina, David Nalbandian and Juan Monaco won for the Argentines, but Nalbandian aggravated a groin injury and strained his lower leg in defeating Adrian Ungur 6-3, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Nalbandian skipped last week’s Mexican Open because of the injury. His status is unclear for Sunday, if the series is still alive.
“It would be a lack of respect to my teammates to play if I am not fit,” he said.