Attention turns this week from the individual battles on the ATP Tour to the collective battles of the Davis Cup. The World Group has reached the quarter-final stage, with one tie in particular looking as if it could hold the key to the destination of the 2007 trophy. With the squads already in place, here is a preview of this week’s four quarter-finals, with the draw to follow in the coming days.

Russia v France
The 2006 champions meet France in the Davis Cup for the third successive year and the Russians will expect to continue their recent dominance over the French. The most memorable of their recent meetings took place in Paris during the 2002 final. On that occasion, Mikhail Youzhny recovered from two sets down to win Russia’s first Davis Cup title against Paul-Henri Mathieu -- a defeat that many believe Mathieu has never truly recovered from.

Russia are a formidable outfit, boasting a squad of Nikolay Davydenko, Marat Safin, Youzhny and Igor Andreev, have already overcome a difficult obstacle in the form of Chile away from home. They will be confident of continuing their excellent home record of 12 successive victories (dating back to the 2005 Davis Cup final against the USA).

The French come into the quarter-final off the back of a comfortable home success against Romania. France have made one change to their squad from that victory, with Paul-Henri Mathieu replacing Sebastien Grosjean. The rest of the squad consists of Richard Gasquet, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra. France have a good recent away record in Davis Cup with seven victories in the last ten away ties; however, that good run is unlikely to continue in Russia.

The Russians have chosen to play indoors on clay and have the luxury of being able to excel as a group on any surface. The French are no strangers to clay; after all, the Mecca of clay-court tennis resides in France (Roland Garros). Russia could make a case for any four of their players to be involved in singles action at some point over the weekend, whereas the French will be reliant on Gasquet to lead their singles charge.

The edge in the doubles lies with the French; however, the overwhelming strength of the Russians in the four singles battles is liable to make that a moot point. Anything other than a Russian victory will be a shock despite the fact that France are no pushovers.

Belgium v Germany
In order to progress to the semi-finals, Belgium will have to achieve something they have never before done in the Davis Cup -- beat Germany. Seven previous encounters have proved fruitless for the Belgians and they have opted to play indoors on clay in the hope of reversing the trend. Belgium have not been to the last four of the Davis Cup since 1999 and it has been an even longer wait for Germany (1995). Both nations recorded home victories in the first round over Australia and Croatia respectively.


The Belgians are led by Olivier Rochus and backed up by Kristof Vliegen, Christophe Rochus (Olivier’s brother) and Dick Norman. German hopes lie firmly at the door of Tommy Haas, who until the recent Miami Masters had been in excellent form, including the Davis Cup first round, where he recorded crucial singles victories over Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic. Haas is joined by Florian Mayer, Alexander Waske and Michael Kohlmann.

As in the first round, Germany will rely on Haas to do the bulk of the work and he holds a 2-0 record against Olivier Rochus and a 1-0 record against Vliegen. The victory over Vliegen was on clay, whereas the two wins over Rochus were on hard courts. Vliegen proved to be the Belgian hero in the first round with his fifth rubber win against Lleyton Hewitt. The scenes of joy at the conclusion of the match painted a picture of how Davis Cup can elevate the level of players who may not be used to producing such performances on the tour week to week.

USA v Spain
This meeting has lost some of its lustre with the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal from the Spanish squad. The timing of the withdrawal was perhaps not the best as later that same evening Nadal produced an excellent display against one of the up-and-coming stars of the ATP Tour, Juan-Martin del Potro. It has led to questions about just how committed Nadal is to the Davis Cup cause at present. He has always said that the competition is close to his heart. The reason for his absence is a precautionary one rather than a recently picked up injury, and with a busy clay court season ahead in the coming weeks, certainly there is validity in the caution. However, that may not satisfy all Spanish supporters, who were hoping to see Nadal lead their Davis Cup challenge in 2007.

His absence further strengthens the chances of the Americans to progress even though they would have fancied their chances even with Nadal’s inclusion. The tie will be played indoors on hard court, the speed of which is liable to cause a great deal of trouble for the Spaniards. The USA come into the tie with a very settled squad of Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers. It will be the sixth successive tie that they have been able to call on the same squad line-up. Spain travel to America with David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez.

Without Nadal, Spain still boast a good squad but, as with the French in Russia, it’s unlikely that they will have enough firepower to take out the Americans. The USA have not won the Davis Cup since Pete Sampras led them to victory in Russia in 1995, and their continued progress in the competition will be based largely on the outcome of the quarter-final between Sweden and Argentina.

Both Andy Roddick and James Blake hold winning head-to head-records over Ferrer and Robredo, and  the doubles edge is with the Americans in the form of the Bryan brothers, who are 10-1 in Davis Cup doubles action. Hence, the USA are rightly seen as strong favourites to advance further in the competition.

Sweden v Argentina
The destination of this year’s Davis Cup could well be decided based on the outcome of this tie. Should Argentina progress, it is highly likely they will meet the USA in Argentina and also have the possibility of playing the final at home, where they are unbeaten since 1998. However, before Argentina can look ahead to home ties, they will first have to overcome Sweden away on what is sure to be a very fast court.

Argentina's captain Alberto Mancini has already commented that a good first serve on the court effectively ends the point, so don’t expect to see too many long rallies in Sweden this weekend. Argentina are boosted by the return of David Nalbandian, the player who has carried his side for a large part of the past two years but missed the first round to rest his aching limbs following a late finish in the 2006 season and with no sustained preparation for 2007.

Argentina can also count on the services of Guillermo Cañas, fresh off an appearance in the Miami Masters final and having quickly elevated himself into the top 30 after returning from suspension last season. The squad also consists of young starlet Juan-Martin del Potro and doubles specialist Sebastian Prieto.

Sweden will be looking for a measure of revenge, having suffered a 5-0 loss in Argentina last year. And playing on a surface more suited to their skills, they will be confident of progressing further in the competition. A big loss for Sweden is their inability to call on the injured Joachim Johansson. The big-serving Swede would have caused Argentina all kinds of problems on this court. Led by captain Mats Wilander, the Swedish team comprises Robin Soderling, Thomas Johansson, Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt.

The respective head-to-heads lie in Argentina’s favour, with Nalbandian holding a 3-1 lead over Soderling and a 1-1 tie with Johansson. Cañas has a 2-0 lead over Johansson but has never met Soderling. However, there is a limit to how much can be read into these previous meetings as not one of them was on a surface as speedy as the carpet surface will be in Sweden.

With Cañas possibly a little fatigued after playing a lot of matches in the past few weeks at Indian Wells and Miami, it remains to be seen how great a part Juan-Martin del Potro will have to play in proceedings.

(Article courtesy of www.sportsmagician.blogspot.com )

Who is your tip to win the Davis Cup this year? Sportingo would love to have your views.