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US Takes Davis Cup Lead Over Slovakia VOA Sports 9 Feb 2002 05:24 UTC 
The United States has taken an early 2-0 lead over Slovakia in Davis Cup World Group tennis action in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Veteran Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick each had some trouble, but overcame their problems to win their matches Friday in the first-round series.
Sampras was playing for the United States Davis Cup squad for the first time since April 2000. After winning the first set, he lost a second-set tiebreaker and trailed 3-5 in the fourth set before rallying to beat Karol Beck, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5. Roddick followed with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 victory over Jan Kroslak.
The U.S. doubles team of James Blake and Mardy Fish can clinch the best-of-three series with a victory Saturday over Kroslak and Beck.
Elsewhere in world group play, Sebastian Grosjean and Arnaud Clement won their singles matches to give defending champion France a 2-0 lead over the Netherlands. Argentina led 2001 runner-up Australia, 2-0, in Buenos Aires. In Moscow, Roger Federer stunned Australian Open runner-up Marat Safin (7-5, 6-1, 6-2) on clay to help Switzerland gain a 1-1 tie with Russia. Britain and Sweden ended the first day tied at one. The Czech Republic leads Brazil, 2-0. The Spain-Morocco, Russia-Switzerland, and Croatia-Germany matches all ended the first day tied at one.
Some information for this report provided by AP.
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