DAVIS CUP: ANDY NOT DANDY IN DAVIS DEBACLE RODDICK LOSES IN 5 TO LJUBICIC; U.S. FALLS 3-1.

Byline: A.J. Perez Staff Writer

CARSON - All hail Ivan the Tolerable.

Hobbled by an ailing right knee, Ivan Ljubicic's weary body held on just long enough to record a improbable victory over Andy Roddick 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11), 6-7 (7), 6-2 Sunday as Croatia claimed a first-round Davis Cup victory.

Officially, the United States suffered a 3-2 loss, its first opening-round home defeat since the Davis Cup began in 1900. Andre Agassi - part of U.S. tennis' version of the Dream Team that included twins Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo - wasn't even needed after Ljubicic's win created a meaningless fifth match.

Bob Bryan - who gave up playing singles seriously a couple years ago - won the final match over Croatian backup Roko Karanusic 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 after most of the 6,584 pro-American crowd emptied out of Home Depot Center.

Croatia advances to face Romania in the quarterfinals in July. The United States, which last won the Davis Cup in 1995, will need to win a relegation match in September to stay in the World Group.

``I think all around the world this is going to be big, because we beat Andre, the Bryans and Roddick in three days,'' Ljubicic said. ``When I came here, I was thinking if I could just win one singles match to keep the team's confidence (high).''

All told, Ljubicic spent 8 hours, 44 minutes on the court this weekend in wins over Agassi (Friday), the Bryans in doubles (Saturday) and Roddick (Sunday).

``My knee was bothering me in the beginning of the fifth set, but, physically, I felt pretty good ...,'' said Ljubicic, who was received treatment after the fifth game of the final set. ``Yeah, I'm tired, but this is my job.''

Although Ljubicic showed signs of slowing as the match neared the four- hour mark, Roddick was incapable of taking advantage.

Roddick squandered three set points in the fourth-set tiebreak before breaking through to win 9-7 and force the decisive fifth set.

``I felt great going in the fifth set,'' Roddick said. ``I knew I still have legs under me. He was kind of dogging (it) on some balls.''

But the momentum didn't go with him, and Ljubicic broke Roddick on four successive points to open the fifth set.

Roddick had a chance to get back into the match in the fourth game, when he had three break points, but all three went for naught, and Ljubicic won the game when Roddick sent a backhand return into the net.

Ljubicic closed out the match with his 19th ace - one better than the hard-serving Roddick - and he still had enough left to gather in a circle with his teammates to celebrate.

``There's no worse feeling than losing a match in Davis Cup in our sport, especially when your teammates are counting on you,'' Roddick said.

A few minutes later, Agassi went into the team room and congratulated the Croatians, Ljubicic said. Whether that was the last gesture for Agassi, who turns 35 next month, as a member of a U.S. Davis Cup team isn't certain.

``It's way too early to know,'' said U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe. ``We were excited to have him back. It's disappointing the way it turned out. We got beat by one guy who got incredibly hot and had a tremendous weekend.''

A.J. Perez, [phone]

aj.perez(at)presstelegram.com

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Photo:

Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic, center, is mobbed by teammates after Sunday's victory over Andy Roddick.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press