ROME -- Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic was upset in a Davis Cup match Friday, losing in five sets to Filippo Volandri, an Italian ranked 141st.

Volandri's 6-2, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 0-6, 6-4 victory gave Italy a 1-0 lead over Croatia in a qualifying-round series in World Group play. Croatia evened the series when Ivan Ljubicic defeated Federico Luzzi 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.

"It's something fantastic," Volandri said. "I could hardly hope to beat a great champion like Ivanisevic."

Ivanisevic, ranked 16th, made repeated unforced errors and failed to capitalize on break points in the clay-court match at Foro Italico.

"I did not believe I could lose this match," said Ivanisevic, who became the first wild card to win Wimbledon in July. "Now I'll have to pocket two points from the doubles and from the singles against Luzzi."

Volandri, drawing on his backhand and drop shots, rallied from a 3-1 deficit and one break down to 5-4 in the fifth set.

Hampered by cramps, the Italian served for the match and won when Ivanisevic sent a long return.

Italy, fielding a team of young players, is trying to regain a berth in the World Group after being demoted for the first time last year.

Italy's Andrea Gaudenzi, Davide Sanguinetti and Diego Nargiso have been in a dispute for several months with the Italian Tennis Federation over appearance money and selection of the team captain.

There were seven matches involving teams trying to get back into the World Group. The eighth, between the United States and India at Winston-Salem, N.C., was postponed until Oct. 12-14 because of last week's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Because of that postponement, the draw for next year's Davis Cup has been put back until Oct. 18.

Elsewhere, host Spain led Uzbekistan 2-0; visiting Morocco was ahead of Belgium 2-0; Romania and the Czech Republic were tied 1-1; Chile was tied 1-1 at Slovakia; Britain led at Ecuador 2-0; and host Argentina led Belarus 2-0.