Young Americans overpower India in Davis Cup

Andy Roddick and James Blake both won the reverse singles on Sunday as the U.S. secured their place in next year's World Group with a 4-1 Davis Cup qualifying round victory over India.

Teenager Roddick dropped the first set to Davis Cup veteran Leander Paes but came storming back to win 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5 to give the Americans an unassailable 3-1 lead at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Coliseum.

In the final dead rubber, debutant Blake, 21, claimed his second singles victory of the week by easily defeating Harsh Mankad 6-3 6-0.

U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe went into the tie pinning his hopes on an inexperienced team who were all keen to play in the competition, and the young players did not let him down.

"The day I took this job, I said that the people who play Davis Cup are going to want to play Davis Cup," McEnroe said.

"That's the end of the story. If I have to go down to the kids who are 17 and find those guys that are desperate to play, that's what I'll do. I don't think I'll have to.

"The guys who were here made it fun. And when you are together as a team, good things happen. I really believe that. I think this is a new start for us."

Going into the final day against India, Roddick, 19, had played only two Davis Cup singles matches, a win over Mankad on Friday and a meaningless victory in the U.S. defeat by Switzerland in February.

Paes, 28, had played in 80 Davis Cup rubbers and the value of his experience was evident right away as he pounced on a nervous Roddick early in the first set to take a 3-1 lead.

Roddick fought back to 4-4 but Paes broke him in the ninth game and served out the set 6-4.

"I was expecting Leander to come out firing," Roddick said. "He's come out in Davis Cup and beaten (Goran) Ivanisevic when he was five in the world and beaten (Karol) Kucera when he was up there.

"He just outplayed me. I just tried to maintain my level of play and see if he cooled off a little bit."

GREAT TALENT

Paes told reporters: "Like I said to you yesterday, I was going to take the match to Andy and I feel fairly proud that I did. I made him come up with the goods. It just goes to show what a great talent he is. He was a bit too good for me today."

Roddick settled down after the first set and never dropped his serve again, repeatedly frustrating his experienced opponent.

"You don't have much time out there against an Andy Roddick serve," Paes said. "You have just got to block it and come in and I wasn't going to sit out there and rally with him."

After clinching his win, Roddick ran to the sidelines to celebrate with his team mates and grab an American flag for a victory lap around the court as the cheering crowd of 5,964 waved flags of their own.

"They were feeling it, I was feeling it, it was awesome," said the teenage Floridian.

"I've seen Americans do that for years at sporting events that I was watching on TV. I was having a blast out there. These are the moments you play for. You only get these kind of moments three, four, five times a year."

Entering the qualifying round tie, captain McEnroe had made it clear that he was expecting the youngster to carry the team to victory.

Although inexperienced, he had performed spectacularly this year, winning three tour titles and reaching the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open to seize a No. 15 world ranking. It was a responsibility that Roddick was honoured to accept.

"I like challenges. I liked it when Patrick said, "OK, come in, step up and do your thing'."

Paes credited his young opponent for his ability to block out the responsibility that had been placed on his shoulders.

"All of us have pinned him as the new U.S. hope," Paes said. "We have put a lot of pressure on him. But his talent, his demeanour on and off the court, he played really well mentally today.

"If he matures as he's supposed to, it's going to be very tough to stop him because he's a phenomenal talent."

Roddick is already looking forward to February when the U.S. will begin the quest for another Davis Cup title. The draw is in Zurich on Thursday.

"We are back in the hunt," Roddick said. "I think we might have the ability to beat teams on any given day. We are going to go in and do our best, try our hardest and see where that takes us.

"There's a good spirit around this team. We have each other's backs and so we'll see where that takes us next year."