Taylor Dent returns a volley during his match Monday against Marcos Daniel at the Newport Casino. Dent prevailed in straight sets.

Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson

NEWPORT – When your country calls, you answer.

That’s why Mardy Fish will be digging shots out of Croatian clay this weekend instead of sweeping them off Newport Casino grass. The top seed in the $500,000 Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships withdrew Monday to replace Andy Roddick on the U.S. Davis Cup team for its quarterfinal tie against Croatia.

Patrick McEnroe, U.S. Davis Cup captain, called Fish after Roddick withdrew in the wake of his epic five-set Wimbledon final Sunday. Roddick injured his right hip flexor in the loss to Roger Federer.

“Mardy is a Davis Cup veteran, and we appreciate his willingness to join the team on short notice,” McEnroe said in a release from USTA headquarters in White Plains, N.Y. “He has been playing well, and we are glad to have him back in the singles lineup.”

Fish, ranked 23rd on the ATP World Tour, will be making his eighth Davis Cup appearance. He is 6-5 overall, 4-4 in singles and 2-1 in doubles. He replaced Bob Bryan for the 2008 semifinals at Spain and combined with Mike Bryan to win the doubles point. He helped the 2004 team reach the Davis Cup final.

Fish will join James Blake and the Bryan brothers in Croatia Tuesday. The tie will be played on an indoor clay court in Porec.

The curse prevails

Fish’s withdrawal from Newport means the No. 1 seed remains vacant and a lucky loser added to the draw in addition to the four qualifiers. The lucky loser is Rajeev Ram of the U.S. He withdrew from his final qualifying match with Ricardo Mello of Brazil because of a calf injury but received the opening in the main draw because of his pre-Wimbledon ranking of 160. Mello, Alejandro Falla of Colombia, Alexander Paya of Austria and Samuel Groth of Australia qualified.

Fish’s withdrawal also means the Curse of the Casino will continue for another year. No top seed has won this event since it became part of the pro tour in 1977. Fish was the top seed the last two years and won only one match. He is 7-7 and a three-time quarterfinalist here.

The day’s results

Prakash Amritraj, the 2008 runner-up to Fabrice Santoro of France, was an early arrival in Newport, touching down last Wednesday. He hit on hard courts for two days and finally got on the grass for 45 minutes on Sunday.

“From the moment I stepped on it felt really good, even though it was a little low,” he said. He defeated Danai Udomchoke, 6-1, 6-4 in the first round Monday. Udonchoke had won their previous two matches on the Challenger circuit.

“I’m going to enjoy my time here and see what kind of damage I can do,” Amritraj said.

Jesse Levine of the U.S., at 21 years, 8 months the youngest player in the draw, defeated Australian Chris Guccione for the first time, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), in the first round Monday before an opening day crowd of 2,090.

“I felt like I came out with some big shots in the tiebreakers,” Levine said. “My game kind of suits the grass pretty well. I like coming into the net. Being a lefty always helps. We have those different spins. Yeah, I’m enjoying my time on the grass. Unfortunately it’s the last event of the year on grass. Off to the hard court after this.”

Taylor Dent, the 2002 Hall of Fame champion trying to regain that form after three years of back problems, won his first round match over Marcos Daniel of Brazil, 6-2, 6-1. Robby Ginepri, the 2003 champion, advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 triumph over Santiago Ventura of Spain. American Brendan Evans upset fourth-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5.

Santoro, the second seed and two-time defending champion, will play Flavio Cipolla of Italy in the second match on the stadium court Tuesday.

mszostak@projo.com