| | Associated Press
SANTANDER, Spain -- Round and round the court, the Spanish
team danced deliriously with hands joined as music played and fans
sang in celebration of the end of more than three decades of Davis
Cup anguish.
|  | | Todd Martin (right) and Chris Woodruff couldn't keep the United States alive in the Davis Cup on Saturday. |
Slipping away sullenly, John McEnroe and his merriless men spoke
of lost opportunities and lost teammates.
McEnroe could only shake his head, a sour expression on his
face, when asked if the team had heard at all from Pete Sampras and
Andre Agassi, who claimed they were too hurt to play and left their
teammates stranded. Did Sampras or Agassi call or send even a
message of support?
"Nope," McEnroe said, the word barely audible and the response
summing up the American experience in Spain.
Alex Corretja and Juan Balcells clinched the best-of-five
semifinal series Saturday with a 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3
doubles victory over Todd Martin and Chris Woodruff that rendered
Sunday's singles matches meaningless.
Spain, a Davis Cup finalist only in 1965 and 1967, will play for
its first title against Australia in Barcelona in December.
"If you reach the final, what is important is to win it,"
Corretja said. "We've started history, and we want to go on with
history."
On a cooler, cloudier day than Friday' thick heat at this
seaside resort near Bilbao, Corretja and Balcells saved four set
points in the opener before taking the set on their first
opportunity in the tiebreaker when Balcells put away a volley.
"The first set was ours," McEnroe said. "There's no way in
the world we should have lost that set. Instead of being two sets
up, it's a set all and they're in the thick of things."
Woodruff said he played with a "little too much fear in the
first set," but it was doubtful the Americans would have won this
one even if McEnroe had played in his place.
Spain appeared on its way to winning in four sets, but the
Americans refused to quit, pushed it to a tiebreaker and won that
when Woodruff nailed a volley at set point.
After an exchange of breaks to 3-3 in the fifth set, Spain won
the final 10 points to close the match. The last three points came
on crushing volley winners by Balcells, disparaged memorably by
McEnroe before the series began with the comment, "Who the hell is
Balcells?"
McEnroe found out -- "He's strong as an ox," he said -- but
couldn't resist a left-handed compliment:
"He's got the greatest 83 mph serve in the history of tennis."
It was a 4-hour, 2-minute match filled with exquisite rallies,
rapid-fire exchanges at the net, deft drops and crafty lobs, and in
the end the Spanish players showed both better skill and greater
endurance on the red clay they love.
Corretja particularly stood out in this match, on one point in
the fifth set retrieving three overhead smashes.
"Chris hit a couple (overheads) early in the point (and) I was
over there saying, 'Chris, don't hit it to Corretja, don't hit it
to Corretja,' " Martin said. "Then I got one -- I think it was the easiest one of
the point -- and I hit it to Corretja.
"He won so many key, key points with his athleticism or his
hustle or just his defensive skills."
None of the Spanish players was alive the last time Spain got
this far, and it didn't matter to any of them that this triumph
came against an American team depleted by injuries.
"We love to win, and we don't look at the opponent," Corretja
said after beating Jan-Michael Gambill in singles on Friday. "I
don't know if Sampras or Agassi would play better than Gambill
today.
"The important thing is to go on the court and to (beat) the
guy in front of you. And if it was Gambill, it was Gambill. If it
was my father, I would be happy as well."
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ALSO SEE
Saturday's results
Spain jumps to 2-0 lead on U.S. in Davis Cup
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Todd Martin says the Americans missed opportunities in the semifinals of the Davis Cup.
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