Team Spain vs Team France – Davis Cup 2011 World Group Play-offs Line-up
The round of four of the Davis Cup World Group play-offs will feature Team Spain, competing against the French squad for a place in the final of the tournament. The semi-final tie will be played from 16th to
18th of September on the clay courts of Plaza de Toros de los Califas, Cordoba, Spain, with the winner of the competitions getting a pass to the final of the tournament.
The two teams making it to the final of the event will automatically get their place in the World Group of the Davis Cup in 2012, while the losers will be placed in the Group 1 to try their luck once again. Both Spanish and French
teams will throw everything they have at each other to get a berth in the final and go through an easier channel to reach the World Group in the next year’s edition of the Davis Cup.
Team Spain has already gone one-on-one with the French squad on seven prior occurrences and has been victorious on five occasions, with Team France bagging victory two times. These two teams faced each other at Clermont-Ferrand,
in the last year’s edition of the Davis Cup as well and the French nailed an emphatic 5-0 victory over the Spaniards. Team France made it all the way to the final of the tournament but was defeated by the might Serb team to finish as the runner-ups.
The Spaniards are captained by Albert Costa and were led by the world number five, David Ferrer up till now in the tournament. Spanish fans were overjoyed by the news when the world number two, Rafael Nadal, committed to represent
his country in the Davis Cup last month and will be the spearhead of the Spaniards in the semi-final ties against France. 19th ranked Fernando Verdasco and world number 26, Feliciano Lopez are the other members of the Team Spain for the semi-final
clash.
Guy Forget is named the captain of the French side in the tournament and the team is led by the world number seven, Gael Monfils. Team France was strengthened by the inclusion of the 11th ranked professional Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga, who was the semi-finalist at Wimbledon Championships this year. The rising star, 12th ranked, Gilles Simon and world number 13, Richard Gasquet, are the other big names in the Team France.
The Spaniards led by Ferrer, disposed of Team Belgium, 4-1, in the opening round and outplayed the United States quad 3-1, in the quarter-final clash to make it to the round of four. France took down Austria 3-2, and then Germany,
4-1, to meet Spain in the semis.
With two of the top-5 tennis stars in the side, Team Spain is already the hot favourite for winning the semi final. It is anticipated that the “King of Clay”, Nadal, will have no real difficulties in tearing apart the French squad
on his favourite red surface in Cordoba and it is least expected that anyone from Team France will be able to contain two of the world’s best clay-court tennis players in the competition, Nadal and Ferrer. Both of these men have already two clay-court championship
titles a piece and will lead the Spanish side in the highly anticipated contest.
The French side will hugely depend upon the hard-hitting Tsonga, who has defeated the world number three, Roger Federer, twice in a row in consecutive tournaments recently. A stiff competition is expected to be seen in the semis
but the Spaniards are clearly the hot favourite for winning the matchup.
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