Ireland experienced the power and application of Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen and world number one junior Kristian Pless during a rain disrupted opening day's play in the Davis Cup Euro-African group II tie in Skagen yesterday.

Ireland's team captain Peter Wright put it mildly: "We have a mountain to climb," after watching both Owen Casey and John Doran go under. Casey picked up the only set won by the Irish when he took the second off Carlsen, ranked inside the world's top 100.

But Doran's defeat was a bitter pill to swallow: "I am more disappointed with John's defeat than anything else," said Wright. "It was a match he could have won. He had a mountain of opportunities to at least make it into a match." Pless, ranked the number one junior in the world, "played great shots on the big points". Pless polished off the Irishman in just over two hours, 6-3 6-4 6-4. "It was a lot tighter than the score looks," said Wright. "John was up a break in the second set and served for 5-2." "John knows he did not play the tennis today that he is capable of. I think his serve let him down a bit. Pless served well and hit his forehand well," added Wright.

Casey and Scott Barron are unlikely to close the floodgates in today's doubles in which the Danes will introduce Frederik Fetterlein to team up with Carlsen.

Casey levelled his match at 1-1 with Carlsen. He served for the second set at 5-3 but was broken and broke back for the set. The first of the rain breaks followed and, says Wright, "after that Carlsen played two really strong sets of tennis".

The match took almost four and a half hours to complete with Carlsen taking it comfortably in the end, 6-2 4-6 6-1 6-1.

Denmark 2, Ireland 0 (K Carlsen bt O Casey 62 4-6 6-1 6-1; F Pless bt J Doran 6-3 6-4 6-4).

Teenaged Lleyton Hewitt made a smashing Davis Cup debut and US Open champion Patrick Rafter completed the singles sweep yesterday as Australia took a commanding 2-0 lead over the United States in their Davis Cup quarter-final at Longwood Cricket Club in Boston.

The 18-year-old Hewitt cut world number eight Todd Martin down to size in a 6-4 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 6-0 victory. Rafter followed Hewitt's heroics with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-4 win against the US team's inspirational leader, Jim Courier.