Spain complete American whitewash

Spain complete American whitewash

JULY 24: US captain John McEnroe had been counting on 23-year-old Gambill, winner of the ATP tournament at Scottsdale last year, to save face by putting the team at least on the scoreboard in the best-of-five tie.

The 20-year-old Ferrero, who had been initially named as a reserve on the team, replaced Spanish number one Alex Corretja in the reverse singles, while Spadea was playing instead of team-mate Todd Martin.

And they looked as if they were on their way when Spadea, despite losing his serve in the third game of the opening set, broke back twice to take the set 6-4.

But the 25-year-old American seemed to lose his nerve coming back on court only to go down on the first two games of the second without scoring a single point, dropping his serve twice more to lose the set 6-1 in 23 minutes, and the Spaniard finished off the final set in 6-4.