BRYAN BROTHERS GIVE U.S. THE LEAD JOHN MCENROE STEALS SHOW WITH EXHIBITION.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO- Fans who came to the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club to see a key tiebreaking match in the United States' first-round Davis Cup competition against Romania ended up enjoying an impromptu performance from the legendary John McEnroe.

The serious part of the afternoon ended in 33 minutes, with the United States getting a free pass to a 2-1 lead after Romania's doubles team retired from their match against Camarillo's Bob and Mike Bryan because of an injury.

With the sellout crowd of 5,209 barely having warmed its seats, the 47- year-old McEnroe came down from the announcer's booth to join brother Patrick, captain of the U.S. team, for a doubles exhibition with the Bryan brothers.

Romania's Victor Hanescu suffered an injury to ligaments around his ribs, grabbing his left side after a serve during the seventh game with he and partner Horia Tecau trailing 4-2.

Hanescu tried to return after a timeout for treatment. Feeling pain on his serve, he double faulted to lose the game. Hanescu winced and dropped to his knees on a forehand the next game, then withdrew after the Bryans took the first set 6-2.

``We'll take it,'' Mike Bryan said. ``We started out strong. Early in the match, we were feeling good about ourselves. We came in wanting to get the team up 2-1, and that's what we did.''

After the withdrawal, Bob Bryan joked on the court that the match wasn't as sweet because the brothers didn't even have time to do one of their signature chest bumps.

``We were saving our energy,'' Bob said. ``We thought it was going to be a long match, so we were saving the chest bump.''

The Bryans, the top-ranked doubles team in the world, were a heavy favorite but weren't going to overlook the Romanians after losing a key match in the United States' first-round loss to Croatia last year.

Fans in attendance didn't seem to mind the turn of events, raucously rolling with the theatrics from a tennis icon rather than watching a Romanian team with little-to-no name recognition in Southern California. The Bryans beat the McEnroe brothers 8-4 in the exhibition.

The Romanians already seemed to be conceding the doubles point to the United States, holding out Andrei Pavel, Hanescu's usual partner. Pavel went a long five sets Friday to beat an ill Andy Roddick, and is scheduled to face James Blake in singles today.

Patrick McEnroe said he expected Roddick to be ready to play the first match today, though his opponent is unknown. Hanescu is unlikely to be able, leaving Tecau and Razvan Sabau as options.

The United States needs to win one of the day's singles matches to advance in the international competition.

Matthew Kredell, [phone]

matthew.kredell(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Retired tennis player John McEnroe puts on a bandana before an exhibition doubles match with brother Patrick at the Davis Cup.

Denis Poroy/Associated Press