CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Kicking Jennifer Capriati off the Fed Cup team cost the United States a chance at the title and led to an embarrassing first-round defeat to Austria.

The Americans, winners of a record 17 titles, were eliminated Sunday when Barbara Schwartz upset Fed Cup rookie Meghann Shaughnessy, the fill-in at No. 1 singles following Capriati's ouster for breaking a team rule prohibiting her from practicing on her own.

"They were obviously the underdogs here and a lot of things went their way from the beginning with Capriati," Shaughnessy said. "I'm disappointed it came to this, there's no reason why we shouldn't have had four people here with the same goal in mind."

Schwartz, ranked 75th in the world, followed Saturday's victory over Monica Seles with a 4-6, 7-6 (7), 9-7 win over Shaughnessy to give Austria its clinching third win in the best-of-five match.

After beating Shaughnessy with a crosscourt backhand that dropped out of Shaughnessy's reach, Schwartz threw her arms in the air and screamed as her teammates ran onto the court to hug her.

She then grabbed an Austrian flag and ran around the court as Shaughnessy packed up her things and walked off, waving slightly to the capacity crowd at the Old Providence Racquet Club.

"For us, when we came here, little Austria, it was the big United States, the No. 1 nation and such great players," Schwartz said. "It's unbelievable for us to win here. I don't even find the right words."

Austria snapped a seven-match losing streak to the United States in Fed Cup play while the Americans were eliminated in the first round for the first time since 1997.

In other first-round play, world No. 3 Kim Clijsters pulled out of Belgium's match against Australia due to a should injury, but Justin Henin won in straight sets to lead the defending champions to a 3-1 victory.

Slovakia won the final doubles match and beat Switzerland 3-2; and Croatia also needed a victory in the last doubles match to defeat the Czech Republic 3-2; Italy shut out Sweden 5-0; Germany slipped past Russia 3-2; France edged Argentina 3-2; and Spain overcame a first-match loss to beat Hungary 4-1.

The United States won consecutive titles in 1999 and 2000, but withdrew from competition last year because of security concerns following the Sept. 11 attacks.

So the women returned to competition eager to reclaim the title, but their efforts took a hit when captain Billie Jean King threw Capriati off the team on Friday night for violating team rules concerning practice.

The decision will undoubtedly be criticized now that the Americans are out of play, but King said she had no regrets.

"Absolutely not, we're a great team and every single person is on the same page with this," said King, who added that Capriati declined an offer to speak to the captain after her dismissal.

Shaughnessy said the remaining three players, which included Lisa Raymond, agreed with King and she had an idea what she might say to Capriati if given the chance.

"I'd like to ask her why she didn't want to follow the team and if it was worth it," Shaughnessy said. "I agree with the decision (to kick Capriati off) because the bottom line is there were rules and it was Jennifer's decision not to follow them."

Under King's rules, all practice sessions are closed to the players' individual coaches and agents, and players are prohibited from practicing on their own time. Stefano Capriati, the player's coach and father, tried to attend practice sessions early in the week but was barred by King.

It created tension that erupted Friday when Capriati said she planned to practice with her father and a hitting partner after the U.S. team was done for the day.

King told her she was not allowed to do it, Capriati argued, and was kicked off the team.

The Americans then had to forfeit their second singles match on Saturday, starting competition down 1-0.

Schwartz, who missed 11 months of competition from 2000-01 following elbow surgery, then beat Seles in straight sets to give Austria a 2-0 lead.

That meant Shaughnessy started the day knowing she had to win to keep the Americans in contention. After winning the first set and going up 5-4 and then 6-5 in the second set, it looked like she could do it.

But Schwartz held serve to force the second set into a tiebreaker, shook off a thigh injury that required her to tape up her right leg to win the tiebreaker, then held on in the third set to single-handedly beat the Americans.

King, meanwhile, said she doubted Capriati would be back on the Fed Cup team next year.

"I don't know, I just have to calm down and reflect," she said. "I would imagine that probably as long as I'm captain, she won't be back, but that's just speculation."