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Serbia will be looking to continue the defence of their Davis Cup title this week at the 2011 tournament reaches the quarter-final stage.
Serbia vs. Sweden, Argentina vs. Kazakhstan, the United States vs. Spain and Germany vs. France are the games in question and there should be plenty of fascinating tennis on show.
Novak Djokovic showed last year how much a victory in this tournament can help a player’s form too, so the world’s top players should take note and approach this round of games with the same importance as a Grand Slam.
They are representing their country after all and there should be no bigger honour in sport.
Looking through the matches individually suggests that the semi-finalists are going to be very tough to call.
Serbia v Sweden – As mentioned, Serbia are the defending Champions and they are expected to progress to the semi-finals after this match in Halmstad.
They also have the world No.1 Djokovic in their ranks, although home advantage will play its part for Sweden.
Argentina v Kazahkstan – Argentina set a new standard for themselves with a semi-final place in the Davis Cup last year and they will be looking to repeat this feat in 2011.
Juan Martin del Potro is their main man and will be expected to lead them to victory against a relatively weak Kazahkstan side. They have already picked up a surprise victory against Czech Republic though, so Argentina should not underestimate their opponents.
USA v Spain – Arguably the stand out tie of the quarter-final stage, this mouth-watering contest in Texas is a very tough one to call.
Spain are the No.1 ranked team in the world and even though they do not have Rafael Nadal in their team for this round, they have a handful of excellent players to call upon.
USA are strong too with Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish leading the way for them. Home advantage could be key, but this is going to be very close.
Germany v France – France have dominated this fixture in recent years having won the last five Davis Cup meetings between the two sides.
Germany are also looking to make the semi-finals for the first time since 2007, so a victory for them would certainly go against current trends.
They have some very capable players though – including World No. 20 Florian Mayer – so they can improve on recent form. France are favourites though as Wimbledon semi-finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga joins Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils in a strong team.
