PARIS: Yannick Noah’s France take on star-starved Serbia and 28-time champions Australia face Belgium in the Davis Cup semifinals this weekend.
Lucas Pouille leads hosts France into battle in Lille against Dusan Lajovic in Friday’s opening singles.
That’s followed by French number one Jo-Wilfried Tsonga crossing swords with Davis Cup debutant Laslo Djere, the highest-rated Serbian at No 80 in the world.
Noah’s team are favoured to progress to the final against a Serbian side sorely missing injured former world number one and 12-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic, Viktor Troicki and Janko Tipsarevic.
But Pouille insisted despite their rankings superiority the semifinal was no foregone conclusion for France.
“We are not over confident, we’ve got an enormous amount of respect for this team (Serbia) which has a lot of very good players,” said Pouille, who was beaten in the fourth round at the US Open.
A similar note of caution was sounded by Noah ahead of the tie being held on the same clay where France lost the 2014 final to Roger Federer’s Switzerland.
“We are sufficiently intelligent to know that it’s going to be a difficult match,” the 1983 French Open winner said.
“Even if their players aren’t at the top of the rankings they’ve got nothing to lose. We won’t be playing an exhibition match this weekend.”
Serbia won their sole Davis Cup title in 2010, beating France in Belgrade 3-2.
France, who secured their ticket to the semifinals after seeing off Great Britain 4-1 in the last eight, are seeking a 10th title but first in 16 years.
In Brussels, Belgium’s David Goffin (ranked 12 in the world) will be out to embellish his phenomenal record in the competition against 185th ranked John Millman.
Goffin, ranked No 12 in the world, has won 13 of his 14 Davis Cup matches, the lone loss coming in the 2015 final to Britain’s Andy Murray.
Belgian’s medical team have been working round the clock to ensure Goffin’s presence after the Belgian star injured his left knee at the US Open.
Goffin, the ninth seed in New York, was stunned by Russian teenager Andrey Rublev 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) in the fourth round.
Next up on the indoor clay court in the Belgian capital Australia’s gifted but combustible Nick Kyrgios (20th) faces 33-year-old Steve Darcis (77).
Kyrgios, who helped Australia beat the United States in the quarters, was picked by Aussie captain Lleyton Hewitt despite his first round exit at Flushing Meadows.
The victorious semifinalists will meet in the 2017 final scheduled for the end of November. — AFP
Davis Cup semifinal draws
(all times GMT, x denotes ATP ranking):
At Lille (clay court, outdoor)
France v Serbia
Friday (from 1100)
Lucas Pouille (FRA x22) v Dusan Lajovic (SRB x80)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x18) v Laslo Djere (SRB x95)
Saturday (from 1200)
Nicolas Mahut/Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) v Nenad
Zimonjic/Filip Krajinovic (SRB)
Sunday (from 1100)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x18) v Dusan Lajovic (SRB x80)
Lucas Pouille (FRA x22) v Laslo Djere (SRB x95)
At Brussels (clay court, indoor)
Belgium v Australia
Friday (from 1200)
David Goffin (BEL x12) v John Millman (AUS x185)
Steve Darcis (BEL x77) v Nick Kyrgios (AUS x20)
Saturday (from 1300)
Arthur De Greef/Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) v Jordan
Thompson/John Peers (AUS)
Sunday (from 1200)
David Goffin (BEL x12) v Nick Kyrgios (AUS x20)
Steve Darcis (BEL x77) v John Millman (AUS x185)
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