SAN DIEGO (AP) – After an ailing Andy Roddick was unable to hang on, he got some help from a friend.

James Blake won in straight sets Friday to give the United States a 1-1 tie with Romania in the opening round of Davis Cup play.

Blake defeated Victor Hanescu 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-2 following Andrei Pavel’s 6-7 (2), 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-2, 6-4 upset of Roddick, who grew nauseated and lost after he had a match point in the third set.

“It’s great,” Roddick said. “When you’re part of a team, you pitch in and pick each other up.”

Blake said he was more concerned about Roddick’s health than he was about his buddy’s defeat.

“It was definitely unfortunate. He gave it his all. He did everything he could to win that match,” Blake said.

Roddick, ranked No. 3 in the world, had match point in the third set against No. 82 Andrei Pavel before becoming ill. Pavel came back to win 6-7 (2), 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-2, 6-4 in 3 hours, 43 minutes.

Blake then handled Hanescu quickly.

“I was very impressed with James’ play,” U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe said. “I think he’s taken his game up a level or two.”

Blake is No. 20, his highest ranking ever. Hanescu is No. 41.

Twins Bob and Mike Bryan will try to give the United States the lead in the best-of-five matches when they play Pavel and Hanescu in doubles in today’s only match. The singles players switch opponents for Sunday’s closing matches.

Roddick vomited several times on the sidelines during changeovers and took a timeout because his right hand cramped up during the third-set tiebreaker. Dehydrated, he spent a long time after the match getting fluids through an IV.

Roddick, who said he definitely would be available to play on Sunday, wasn’t sure what caused him to feel nauseous. He said he hadn’t eaten anything unusual.

“That was the worst I’ve felt after a match,” he said. “I’ve cramped before, but I still felt like I had energy. This time, I felt drained.”

Pavel realized Roddick was in trouble.

“I saw that his body was not fit any more,” Pavel said. “Sometimes, when somebody’s injured, he’s going to hit as hard as he can and try to shorten the points. I sensed it in the fourth set.

“My strategy was to make him run a lot.”

Roddick was up 7-6 in the third-set tiebreaker, with two serves coming up. But he lost both and Pavel went on to win when Roddick netted one forehand and hit another long for the final point of the set.

Pavel dominated the fourth set, then built a 5-1 lead in the fifth before Roddick fought back to close within one game. The 32-year-old Pavel, nine years older than Roddick, came back to put the match away.

Roddick was coming off a fourth-round loss to Marcos Baghdatis in the Australian Open.

The United States hasn’t won the Davis Cup since 1995, and was eliminated by eventual champion Croatia in the first round last year.

In other first-round matches around the world, Croatia began defense of its title by taking a 2-0 lead over Austria.

Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic won their matches for Croatia in Graz, Austria. Ancic rallied to defeat Jurgen Melzer 6-7 (2), 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Ljubicic beat Stefan Koubek 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

Belarus won both matches against two-time champion Spain in Minsk. On an indoor carpet in Amsterdam, Russia took a 2-0 lead over the Netherlands.

Argentina swept two matches from Sweden in Buenos Aires, losing only one set. In Halle, Germany, France also swept its matches against Germany.

Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu gave Chile a 2-0 lead over Slovakia in Rancagua, Chile. Australia and Switzerland split their first two matches in Geneva.

AP-ES-02-10-06 2238EST