HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe stunned the U.S. Davis Cup team by taking a 2-1 lead with a grueling doubles victory Saturday, leaving John McEnroe's Americans within a game of a first-round elimination.
"We're going to fight to the last drop," vowed captain McEnroe -- who isn't playing although he dearly wishes he were -- who must urge Andre Agassi and newcomer Chris Woodruff on to victory.If either player loses today, the Americans are out of the competition.
Zimbabwean doubles partners Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett battled back after being down two sets to one -- including one in which they were scoreless -- to beat Rick Leach and Alex O'Brien, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 0-6, 7-5, 7-5.
Black and Ullyett were buoyed by a capacity crowd at Harare's 4,000-seat City Sports Center, which bellowed, whistled and beat drums to show support for the Zimbabwean team, known as "the Giant Killers."
The Americans, even Leach who last week won the Australian Open doubles title, were rattled.
At deuce in the final game, Ullyett fired a backhand service return winner down the alley.
"I just picked my spot and ripped away," Ullyett said.
Leach then double-faulted -- his third of the match -- to hand Zimbabwe the win.
"At the end it was just a frenzy out there," Leach said. "It was kind of a blur."
Leach said the crowd noise was so loud that he had trouble taking to O'Brien. It was the first time the pair had played together.
In the third set, the Americans seemed to have victory in their grasp as they blanked out the Zimbabweans. But Black and Ullyett gamely fought back, using finesse at the net
"It's the best feeling of my career," Ullyett said after playing in his first-ever Davis Cup doubles match. "It's unbelievable -- to win it like that."
McEnroe repeated his contention that chair umpires were making calls against the Americans to get back at McEnroe for his habitual outbursts as a player.
Several times Sunday, McEnroe stalked up to chair umpire Bruno Rebueh of France to contest a call. The Zimbabwean spectators and players did not appreciate it.
Every time McEnroe complained, the crowd loudly booed. Wayne Black complained afterward that at one stage he had to delay resuming play for a minute because McEnroe was "chirping" at the umpire.
"I'm waiting to serve, and Mac's just there complaining." Black said. "The umpire should put a stop to it."
McEnroe later fired back.
"If he thinks that that was me arguing too long, you know what I wish? That he had played me in my prime," McEnroe said.
Although McEnroe, America's most successful Davis Cup player, praised the Zimbabweans' level of play, he took a jab at Wayne Black.
"He's got to be kidding himself if he thinks that this is giving your absolute best," McEnroe said. "I think that's a bunch of baloney, to put it mildly."
Sunday's two final singles matches pit Agassi against Byron Black, Zimbabwe's top-ranked player, while his brother Wayne faces Woodruff. Agassi, the world's top-ranked player, is favored over Byron Black, but Wayne Black is expected to beat Woodruff.
In Friday's matches, Agassi beat Wayne Black and Byron Black trounced Woodruff.
Wayne Black predicted Zimbabwe would emerge victorious.
"I'm going to say for the record we're still underdogs, but we're going to win," Black said, adding that Woodruff faces immense pressure because "he's holding the flag up for the big United States."
Elsewhere, four nations advanced by taking insurmountable 3-0 leads: Russia over Belgium, Spain over Italy, Slovakia over Austria and Brazil over France. Three others won doubles to take 2-1 leads: Switzerland against defending champion Australia, the Czech Republic against Britain and Germany against the Netherlands.
The United States has rebounded from being down 2-1 only three times in Davis Cup history -- in 1934, 1961 and 1981. McEnroe was on the 1981 team that dug itself out of a hole against Mexico.