Houston ? The United States thought it had a good plan playing Spain on grass in the Davis Cup quarterfinals. Spain’s Alex Corretja spoiled it.

Corretja, with a losing record on grass, rallied to beat Pete Sampras 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Friday to give Spain a 1-1 tie with the United States.

“It’s nice to win a tournament but to beat Sampras on grass when you lose the first two sets in pretty special,” Corretja said. “As a professional tennis player, it’s pretty special. I started to feel good at the beginning of the third set.”

Andy Roddick gave the United States the lead by beating Tommy Robredo 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7) in the opening match at Westside Tennis Club. If Sampras had held on the win, the Americans could have clinched the best-of-five match in Saturday’s doubles match.

“It would have given us a 2-love lead and put them against the wall,” Sampras said. “There is no reason to panic.”

In the doubles match today, Americans James Blake and Todd Martin will face Corretja and Juan Balcells. The match will end with two more singles matches on Sunday.

It’s only the second time since 1959 that the U.S. is playing a home Davis Cup match on grass. In 1991, the U.S. squad beat Spain 4-1 in Newport, R.I. The U.S.-Spain winner will play either defending champion France or the Czech Republic in the semifinals. France and the Czech Republic were tied 1-1 after Friday.