The journey for the 2007 Davis Cup begins on Friday with eight first round World Group matches. The opening round sees the 2006 finalists, Russia and Argentina, facing tricky away ties.

Chile v. Russia
The Davis Cup holders travel to South America without their number one ranked player, Nikolay Davydenko. However, the Russians still boast a strong squad including Marat Safin, Igor Andreev and Dmitry Tursunov. Looking to knock out the holders early are a Chile team that have won their last nine home ties. Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu have proven themselves many times over when playing in international team competition. Massu won Olympic gold in singles during Athens 2004, and partnered Gonzalez in picking up another gold medal in the doubles at those same Olympics.

Playing in front of what will be a vociferous home crowd, Chile go into the tie on clay as favourites. However, Russia will be looking to feast on Massu as the Chilean has not been at his best of late. Despite making the final of Vina Del Mar, he looked far from unbeatable and both Safin and Andreev will be confident of securing victories against him.Gonzalez will have to carry Chile in this tie; Chile’s number one has just broken into the world’s top five after reaching the final of the Australian Open. VERDICT: Home advantage to squeeze Chile through.

France v. Romania
France should have little trouble advancing to the quarter-finals after being drawn at home. Aside from coming into the tie with a squad not as strong as the French (Richard Gasquet, Sebastien Grosjean, Arnaud Clement, Michael Llodra), Romania will have to achieve something they have not done before - win an away World Group tie. That record is unlikely to happen as the French have chosen to play indoors on a hard court, and may well close out the tie on Saturday. VERDICT: France to ensure Sunday’s matches are dead rubbers.

Germany v. Croatia
Without the services of the injured Nicolas Keifer, Germany will be relying on Tommy Haas against Croatia’s two-man team of Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic. Earlier this week the Croatian team were the subject of some controversy as Ivo Karlovic withdrew from the squad over an apparent pay dispute. Ljubicic and Ancic will be hoping to earn their money this time by winning away from home. Haas will be supported by the man who ended the career of Andre Agassi - Benjamin Becker. Haas has even head-to-head records with Ljubicic and Ancic but if Germany are to prevail he will probably need to lead the head-to-head records by the end of the weekend. VERDICT:  Expect a long weekend.

Belgium v. Australia
This is an even contest to determine which nation advances to the quarter-finals. Belgium have opted for clay in order to gain maximum advantage over their opponents. This time last year Australia also went away on clay, on that occasion the destination was Switzerland and they were successful after a fifth rubber in which Chris Guccione hit an extraordinary amount of aces in a straight-sets victory over George Bastl.

Australia will have their star, Lleyton Hewitt, leading them into battle but will be without a couple of players who have often been by his side in recent years, Wayne Arthurs and Mark Philippoussis. Belgium are without the services of Xavier Malisse, who has already won two titles this season, due to an internal conflict which is not uncommon among some nations in Davis Cup play. Belgium will be hoping for a first World Group victory since their 1999 win against Switzerland. VERDICT: Hewitt to be the difference.

Czech Republic v. USA
When the draw was made, this match up was seen as one of, if not the tie of the round. Yet another internal dispute is the reason that the Czechs will not field Radek Stepanek, recently in the news for his engagement to Martina Hingis. The relationship between Stepanek and his national federation appears beyond repair after the Czech federation released a statement that surely severs ties for good. “He is completely indifferent to playing for the Czech Republic and he despises Czech tennis, his teammates, officials and Czech tennis fans,” part of the statement read.

The burden of responsibility falls on Tomas Berdych, a talented young player but one who still needs to mature. Berdych will need to produce the kind of mental strength and concentration that saw him defeat Rafael Nadal in last year’s Madrid Masters.

The challenge facing the Czechs comes in the form of a now very settled American side. Ranking-wise the American side is impressive, consisting of top-tenners Andy Roddick and James Blake and the top-ranked doubles team and recently-crowned Australian Open champions, Bob and Mike Bryan. They are almost certain to win their doubles rubber which means that if the Czechs are to prevail they will need more than just Berdych. Had Stepanek been available they would have been favourites, but without him the balance of power falls marginally with the Americans. VERDICT:  The Czechs will be left wishing Stepanek was not so indifferent to representing his nation.

Switzerland v. Spain
Had Roger Federer committed himself to Davis Cup this year, the tie versus Spain would have produced a great deal of publicity due to an impending match-up against Rafael Nadal. But Federer has again decided to prioritise his battle with the history books on an individual level, thus leaving the Swiss with little chance in this tie. Without having to face Federer, Spain should have little trouble moving on in the competition. Swiss hopes will lie with Stanislas Wawrinka, but that will be too much as the opposition will be led by Rafael Nadal with David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez in support. VERDICT: The easiest away win of the weekend.

Belarus v. Sweden
Belarus have claimed some notable scalps at home in recent years against sides such as Spain, Argentina and Russia. They'll be hoping to continue the good work on what will be the fastest playing court of the weekend. The Belarus side will be led by Max Mirnyi, whose doubles partner Jonas Bjorkman will face him on the opposite side of the net. Mirnyi holds the key to a Belarus win but history is against him with a combined head-to-head record against the current Swedish squad of 3-18. Nevertheless, Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov will be banking on gaining some early momentum and carrying it through the weekend.

Sweden, captained by Mats Wilander, will be able to call on Robin Soderling, Thomas Johansson, Jonas Bjorkman and Simon Aspelin. Bjorkman has a 10-1 record against Mirnyi and it will be interesting to see whether he is used against his doubles partner in singles action. VERDICT: The record suggests Sweden are favourites, but Belarus are 3-0 at home in World Group ties.

Austria v. Argentina
Last year's finalists Argentina travel to Austria without their ace in the pack, David Nalbandian. Argentina’s strength in depth is the reason they go to Linz with at least a fighting chance despite the absence of Nalbandian, Agustin Calleri, Juan Ignacio Chela, Gaston Gaudio and Guillermo Coria. All of these players are missing for reasons ranging from injury to personal choice and poor or no form at all.

Argentina captain Alberto Mancini has called on Jose Acasuso, the returning Guillermo Canas, the rising star of Argentine tennis, Juan Martin Del Potro and veteran doubles specialist Sebastian Prieto. Acasuso is the only player in this squad to have played Davis Cup in 2006. An Austrian win may be considered by some as an upset, but in truth they must come into the tie as slight favourites as they have decided to play indoors on carpet and will be hoping to expose the lack of experience (Del Potro) and/or the lack of playing time at this level (Canas and Prieto).

Canas has recently returned from a suspension and has excelled on the Challenger circuit but Davis Cup will be a totally different proposition. Prieto is expected to partner Acasuso in Saturday’s doubles and has played only one Davis Cup match, way back in 1999. Stefan Koubek and Jurgen Melzer will lead the Austrian side and will be playing to give Austria their first world group victory since 1995.  VERDICT: Argentina to extend Austria’s drought at World Group level - but only just.

(For more from this writer, visit http://sportsmagician.blogspot.com/ )

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