Sampras pulls out

The first set lasted one hour and 10 minutes, longer than some two-set matches. In a match of two good returners, all but three games went to one or more deuces.

There were some spectacular rallies and extraordinary points, such as when an air-borne Chang hit a winner off a wrong foot.

The sell-out crowd of 11,000 in the Scandinavian hall was noisily partisan but largely fair.

Chang dropped his serve to trail 6-5, in a game that included a doublefault, perhaps caused by one of the paper planes occasionally hurled onto the court from the crowd.

Bjorkman used his chance and served out the long set.

But the American recovered quickly to break serve for a 2-0 lead and rolled through the second set in just 26 minutes.

There were two breaks of serve each early in the third set and Bjorkman gained another for a decisive 5-3 lead when Chang hit a forehand wide. The Swede served out the set without problems, hitting two service winners in a row.

Bjorkman kept up the momentum and broke again at the start of the fourth. His lead last only until the next game.

But Chang dropped his serve again to give Bjorkman a 4-3 lead.

Serving to stay in the match, Chang had a doublefault that made it 30-30. A volley by Bjorkman gave the Swede his first match point, but he wasted it by hitting a forehand long. A forehand winner set up another and Chang dropped the match when he hit a volley into the net.

The United States will need to slay the ghost of Gothenburg if they are to win their 32nd Davis Cup title this weekend.

Twice the United States have come to this city as Davis Cup favourites and been beaten by the home team, their only two defeats in nine Cup ties against Sweden.

Three of the current American team world number one Pete Sampras, Todd Martin and Jonathan Stark 8212; gave away a 2-0 lead in the 1994 semifinal to lose 3-2 after Sampras retired and Martin was beaten by Magnus Larsson in the final singles.

Only one final since the Davis Cup was revamped in 1981 has not included either the US or Sweden but they have met just once in the final, in 1984 in Gothenburg.

The US that year boasted the world number one and two in John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, and the world8217;s top doubles pair, McEnroe and Peter Fleming. But the Swedes lay a red clay surface to neutralise their opponents and won 4-1, thanks partly to Connors and McEnroe losing their cool.

US captain Tom Gullikson acknowledges that the 1997 Swedish team have once again chosen the surface to suit their game, a fast carpet, but he does not believe the Gothenburg jinx will strike again.

8220;It8217;s been a great week in practice and we8217;re looking forward to a good weekend. We certainly plan to put that 1994 match and the ghost of 8217;84 behind us as well,8221; he said.