TENNIS : DAVIS CUP : Gilbert Clinches U.S. Victory

Brad Gilbert outlasted Luis Herrera, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, Sunday to clinch a first-round victory for the United States over Mexico in the Davis Cup at Mexico City.

Gilbert broke Herrera in the eighth game of the fifth set and then served out at love. Their match lasted 3 hours 45 minutes.

In the final match, after Gilbert had clinched victory for the United States, Leonardo Lavalle of Mexico beat Jim Courier, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5.

“I felt satisfied to get the U.S. team the victory,” Gilbert said. “He played above his ranking and the crowds pumped him up and that helped him a lot.”

Gilbert, 29, said adjusting to Mexico City’s smog and the 7,250-foot altitude has always been the toughest part for the U.S. team. The players had four days to get acclimatized, but Gilbert said 10 would have been better.

“I was beginning to feel relaxed in the fifth set,” Gilbert said. “I played steady and I didn’t feel the crowd was pressuring me. So I went on ahead. I was the better player of the two and I won.”

Herrera, 19, credited Gilbert’s play in the fifth set.

“We were going even, the two of us. I had two very good returns, but he had two very good services,” Herrera said. “Maybe I should have tried to relax a bit more. (Gilbert) played better than I and he won. They were five very tough sets.”

Herrera had defeated Courier in the opening singles match on Friday, before Gilbert squared the match with a victory over Lavalle. Rick Leach and Jim Pugh gave the Americans a 2-1 advantage with a doubles victory Saturday against Lavalle and Jorge Lozano.

Tom Gorman, the U.S. captain, praised Gilbert after his clinching victory.

“He’s such a gutsy guy. He was great when he had to be today,” Gorman said. “He didn’t get down on himself and in this type of situation you have to be calm.”

The victory lifted the United States into the quarterfinals, where it will play host to Spain June 14-16.

In another world group match, France finished a 5-0 rout of Israel at Rennes. Guy Forget beat Amos Mansdorf, 6-4, 6-2, and Henri Leconte beat Gilad Bloom, 6-3, 7-5.

France will play Australia in the quarterfinals at Nimes on May 3-5.

At Berlin, Germany advanced to the semifinals by winning the doubles and taking a 3-0 lead over Argentina. Michael Stich and Eric Jelen beat Javier Frana and Christian Miniussi, 7-5, 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (9-7), 6-4.

Saturday, Boris Becker and Stich won straight-set victories.

At Prague, Yugoslavia beat Czechoslovakia, 4-1, to advance to the semifinals. Goran Ivanisevic beat Czechoslovakia’s No. 1 player, Karel Novacek, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-4 to clinch it in Sunday’s first match. Slobodan Zivojinovic then beat Petr Korda, 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 8-6.

Yugoslavia will play either France or Australia in the semifinals.

In the Asia-Oceania zone, the Philippines beat Japan, 4-1, and India beat Indonesia, 4-1. In the American zone, Chile beat the Dominican Republic, 5-0, Brazil beat Uruguay, 4-1, and Venezuela beat Ecuador, 3-2.