Croatia bounces U.S. from Davis Cup

ZAGREB, Croatia -- A Croatian fan sitting courtside waved a sign as James Blake was about to serve: "You can't beat without Pete."

The United States certainly didn't have Pete Sampras on Sunday when it was eliminated by Croatia in the first round of the Davis Cup.

These are different times for the Americans at the Davis Cup. Instead of Sampras or Andre Agassi, it was left to James Blake to keep their prospects alive.

Blake, the team leader at 23, lost to Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3, assuring Croatia's advance. In a second singles reduced to best-of-three, Mario Ancic defeated Taylor Dent 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (10) to give Croatia a 4-1 victory. Dent replaced Mardy Fish.

At one point, Blake shouted at the fan with the Sampras banner, "Put the sign down!"

A fan in the stands replied, "Go home James."

The United States is indeed going home to regroup. It has more Davis Cups titles than any other nation, but has been ousted in the first round two of the last three years. Now the Americans face a playoff in September to stay in the elite 16-team group.

Croatia, on the other hand, moves on, playing Spain in the quarterfinals. Neither Croatia nor the former Yugoslavia has ever reached the Davis Cup final.

In other World Group matches, it was: Argentina 5, Germany 0; Australia 4, Britain 1; Russia 3, Czech Republic 2; France 4, Romania 1; Switzerland 3, the Netherlands 2; Spain 5, Belgium 0; and Sweden 3, Brazil 2.

Since becoming U.S. Davis Cup captain two years ago, Patrick McEnroe has not won an away match. Against Croatia, he could not even turn to Andy Roddick, who was out with a wrist injury.

"This one hurts more than any the other ones because I felt we could go all the way this year," he said. "But there is a thin line between doing that and losing in the first round."