Marat Safin defeated Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5) to give Russia a 1-0 lead over the United States after the opening singles of the Davis Cup semifinal on Friday.

Russia's Mikhail Youzhny was scheduled to play James Blake in the day's second singles match on the Olympic indoor stadium's clay court.

Roddick and Safin had played five times before _ all on hard courts _ with the American winning the last three in 2004.

Roddick opened strongly, allowing Safin only one point on the American's first three service games. But in the seventh game, Safin earned two break points with a backhand passing shot, and converted on the first. The Russian saved a break point in the next game before holding to close out the set.

Roddick tried to change tactics in the second set and play serve-and-volley, but it didn't make much difference.

Roddick saved three break points in the third game of the second set and one more in the fifth before Safin ended the match's longest rally _ 26 shots _ with a lob to break serve.

Safin and Roddick exchanged breaks late in the third set to force a tiebreaker. Down 2-5, Safin won five straight points to end the match.

Safin, who has missed much of the season with a knee injury, was picked by Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev ahead of fifth-ranked clay-court specialist Nikolay Davydenko.

The loss was only the eighth in 21 Davis Cup matches for Roddick, while Safin improved to a 25-14 record.

The best-of-five series is played at the same venue where Pete Sampras won all three of his matches on clay in 1995 to help the United States capture its 31st Davis Cup title.

Russia, which has never beaten the United States, is unbeaten at home since losing that final and beat France in 2002 for its only title.

The winner will face either Australia or Argentina in the final in December.

© The Canadian Press, 2007