1 While most of the favorites were winning on the opening day of Davis Cup play in 1995, a defective court delayed South Africa's long-awaited return to the competition's top group.
2 Germany, joint top-seed along with the United States, raced to a 2-0 lead over another World Group debutant, Croatia, in first-round play. Russia, last year's runner-up, also won both its matches against Belgium.
3 But South Africa, kicked out of the competition 15 years ago because of apartheid, was embarrassed when a court specially built for its match against Australia failed to cope with a rain leak.
4 In Switzerland, world No. 15 Mark Rosset broke his foot and had to abandon his opening match against Jacco Eltingh of the Netherlands. Rosset will be sidelined 10-12 weeks.
5 In a battle of top 10 players on the hard court at Karlsruhe, Germany's Michael Stich beat Goran Ivanisevic 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to blunt Croatia's hopes of posting an upset.
6 'It was a loss that probably cost us any chance of winning,' Croatian coach Zeljko Franulovic said. 'Goran played good, but his serve didn't come.'
7 The deciding moment came when Ivanisevic lost six straight points to lose the first-set tiebreaker. His overpowering serve wasn't the same for the rest of the match.
8 'If Goran had won the tiebreak, then it certainly would have been a close match,' Stich said.
9 Croatia had hoped that Ivanisevic, its only top 200 player, could win both his singles matches and as well as team up with Sasa Hirszon to win the doubles.
10 After Stich's victory, Boris Becker, as expected, overpowered Hirszon 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 in the second singles match.
11 Becker and Stich will put aside a personal feud in Saturday's doubles and team up for the first time since winning the 1992 Olympic gold medal.
12 Last year, Stich threatened to quit Davis Cup play if Becker had been allowed to join the team after skipping the early rounds. Stich led Germany to the Davis Cup title in 1993, but has been reduced to the No. 2 spot on the team with Becker's return.
13 Russia rolled over the Belgium opposition on the clay at Antwerp, with veteran Andrei Chesnokov beating Belgium's top-ranked player, Filip Dewulf, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
14 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, ranked No. 10 in the world, followed up with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over relative unknown Kris Goossens.
15 The reddest faces were in Durban, South Africa. A sand-and-gel court, covered by a layer of artificial surface, was prepared to slow down play against an Australian attack that prefers fast surfaces.
16 When rain seeped through protective covers on Thursday, the court became soggy and prone to rips and was still unplayable on Friday.
17 'They were only laid about a couple of weeks ago and haven't had time to settle,' International Tennis Federation president Brian Tobin said.
18 The opening singles matches, Marcos Ondruska vs. Patrick Rafter and Wayne Ferreira vs. Richard Fromberg, were rescheduled for Saturday. Tobin did not rule out a South African forfeit if the courts didn't eventually dry out.
19 Three other matches in the World Group, Netherlands-Switzerland, Austria-Spain and Italy-Czech Republic, were tied 1-1 after the opening day singles.
20 Later Friday, Denmark hosted reigning champion Sweden and the United States hosted France.
21 At Geneva, Rosset abandoned his match against Jacco Eltingh while leading 6-4, 2-3. Rosset twisted over on his right foot while running for a forehand volley.
22 Sobbing with pain and disappointment before the home crowd, Rosset limped off. X-rays showed he had broken the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot.
23 His right leg in a calf-high cast, Rosset returned to watch the end of teammate Jakob Hlasek's victory over Richard Krajicek 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.
24 Rosset's injury exposes Switzerland's depth problem. His potential replacements for Saturday's doubles and Sunday's reverse singles are Lorenzo Manta and Patrick Mohr, ranked 238th and 302nd respectively.
25 On hard court at Vienna, Spanish world No. 4 Sergi Bruguera strolled past Gilbert Schaller 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, and Austria's Thomas Muster defeated Carlos Costa 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
26 Schaller strained his left calf muscle in his match was will likely be replaced by Alexander Antonitsch in Saturday's doubles.
27 On clay at Naples, Czech Daniel Vacek defeated Andrea Guadenzi 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), and Italy's Renzo Furlan beat Slava Dosedel 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4.
28 At Wellington, 19-year-old Kelly Downs, playing his first Davis Cup match, defeated Lien Yu-Hui 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 and Kiwi No. 1 Brett Steven trounced Tsia Chia-Yen 6-1, 6-0, 6-0.
29 At Calcutta, Leander Paes defeated Thorsten Poelzl 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 and Mahesh Bhupathy beat Sven Kohler 6-0, 6-4, 6-3.
30 At Manila, Japan's Shuzo Matsuoka beat Robert Angelo 6-4, 6-4, 6-0. Philippine Joseph Lizardo countered with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 victory over Ryuso Tsujino.
31 At Seoul, Yoon Yong-il beat Bonit Wiryawan 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 and Lee Hyung-taik defeated Suwandi Suwandi 6-2, 7-6, 6-2. It was not immediately clear why the matches were only best-of-three sets.
32 At Colombo, Jayendra Wijesekera beat Ramin Raziyani 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (7-2), 6-4, and Rohan De Silva defeated Mohammad Reza Tavakoli 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-2), 6-2.
33 At Bangkok, Thailand's Narathorn Srichaphand beat Ramaiah Ramachandran 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 and Malaysian No. 1 Adam Malik defeated Vorapol Thongkhamchu 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
34 At Lahore, China's Pan Bing beat Omar Rasheed 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6. China's Xia Jiaping was leading the second match 7-5, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 3-1 when bad light halted play. The match will resume tomorrow.

But South Africa , kicked out of the competition 15 years ago because of apartheid , was embarrassed when a court specially built for its match against Australia failed to cope with a rain leak .
failed to cope with a rain leak
What was causing the leak to stay on the court?