Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh relied on booming serves to defeat Rick Leach and Jonathan Stark 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 Saturday and prevent the United States from sweeping its Davis Cup quarterfinal against the Netherlands.
The Americans take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 series into Sunday's reverse singles matches. A victory by either Andre Agassi or Jim Courier would send the United States into the semifinals in September.Haarhuis and Eltingh, ranked among the world's top six teams, improved to 3-0 in Davis Cup doubles when the Netherlands trails 2-0.
"We try to put everything aside. We forget it's Davis Cup," Eltingh said. "We just have to think about our own level. If our own level is good enough, we can beat anyone in the world."
The gusting winds and unseasonably cold temperatures that affected Friday's matches disappeared Saturday. A slight breeze rippled the orange flags waved by the Dutch fans, who again wore painted faces and foam wooden shoes on their heads.
There were just four service breaks in the two-hour, 24-minute match, and three of them went to the Dutch. Leach and Stark got in 69 percent of their first serves to the Dutch team's 59 percent, but they were 1-of-8 on break chances.
"We had a lot of chances, but we couldn't capitalize on them because they came up with big serves," said Leach, who lives in nearby Laguna Beach and belongs to the Palisades Tennis Club where the matches are being played.
Ahead 2-1 in the second set, the Americans blew three break points on Haarhuis' serve. He held after three deuce points when Stark's service return sailed long.
Eltingh's backhand winner down the middle broke Stark in the ninth game and then Eltingh served out the set 6-4 with an ace.
"We played better than them on the big games, big points," Haarhuis said. "They won love games on their service, but when it came down to games where it was 15-30, 30-all, 30-40, we played better."
The Americans again failed to convert two break points when leading 2-1 in the third. But Stark survived a break point down 15-40 on his serve. After he and Leach hit winners, the Dutch made two straight unforced errors to put the Americans ahead 3-2.
Leach's crosscourt forehand winner gave the United States its only break of the match on Haarhuis' serve in the sixth game. Leach and Stark wrapped up the set 6-3.
Both teams stayed on serve in the fourth set until the eighth game. With Leach serving, the Americans had the advantage on the second deuce, but Haarhuis hit a forehand winner down the middle for break point.
Haarhuis took Leach's serve and smacked a backhand winner down the alley for a 5-3 lead. The Dutch needed three match points before Eltingh's ace won the match.
"Haarhuis came up with some really good shots. He did that the whole match," Stark said. "Maybe we should have played Jacco a little bit. We were out there trying our hardest. It was just a few points that they came up on the better side."
The Dutch must win both singles matches Sunday to win the series.
They were in a similarly tight situation in February against Romania in the first round. They lost the opening singles matches, but Haarhuis and Eltingh got the comeback started by winning the doubles. They won the series 3-2.
"We have a little stiffer competition now," Haarhuis said. "If we're a little luckier tomorrow, we're going to be celebrating a big party tomorrow night."
In other World Group matches, Australia took an insurmountable 3-0 lead against the Czech Republic, Italy led Spain 3-0, and Sweden took a 2-1 lead over South Africa.
Australia 3, Czech Republic 0
Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde recovered from a sluggish start Saturday, beating David Rikl and Martin Damm 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 in Adelaide. Australia will face the United States-Netherlands winner.
Pat Rafter and Mark Philippoussis had singles victories Friday to put the Australians in command.
Italy 3, Spain 0
In Pesaro, Italy, the Italian doubles team of Omar Camporese and Diego Nargiso defeated Francisco Roig and Javier Sanchez 5-7, 7-6 (7-0), 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) to eliminate Spain 3-0.
Sweden 2, South Africa 1
After a split of the singles Friday, the Swedish doubles team of Jonas Bjorkman and Nicklas Kulti defeated David Adams and Ellis Ferreira 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2.