Nadal heads strong quaterfinal line-up.

08 Apr 2008
Nadal heads strong quarterfinal line-up.

Eight of the world’s top 10 players will be in World Group action when the quarterfinals of the 2008 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas get underway this Friday. Four World Group quarterfinal ties and 26 Zone Group I and II ties will be held on 11-13 April, with full coverage on the official Davis Cup website: www.daviscup.comWorld No. 2 Rafael Nadal returns to the Spanish team for its quarterfinal away to Germany on indoor hard court in Bremen. He is joined by No 5. David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, as Spain bids to reach its first semifinal since winning the title in 2004. Germany is led by Philipp Kohlschreiber in a team that also includes Nicolas Kiefer, Michael Berrer and Philipp Petzschner.Defending champion USA is unchanged for the 10th tie running, with World No. 6 Andy Roddick, No. 8 James Blake, and Bob and Mike Bryan looking to secure their sixth consecutive victory. The team takes on France on hard court in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the venue for last year’s quarterfinal win over Spain. France will offer a strong challenge, led by World No. 10 Richard Gasquet and Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, alongside Paul-Henri Mathieu and Michael Llodra.World No. 7 David Nalbandian is joined by Guillermo Canas, Juan Monaco and Jose Acasuso for Argentina’s tie against Sweden on clay in Buenos Aires, the team having not lost at home since 1998. Sweden sees the return of Robin Soderling alongside veterans Thomas Johansson and Jonas Bjorkman, and doubles specialist Robert Lindstedt.Russia is led by the in-form world No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko for its home tie against Czech Republic on clay in Moscow. The 2008 Miami champion is joined by Mikhail Youzhny, Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Andreev, with Marat Safin also available. Russia has not lost at home since 1995. World No. 9 Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek head the Czech challenge, alongside Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner.The four quarterfinal winners will compete in the World Group semifinals on 19-21 September. In the semifinals, Russia would be away to Argentina and Sweden, while Czech Republic would be at home to either team. USA would be away to Germany and Spain, while France would be at home to either team.Sixteen nations will be contesting Zone Group I second round ties in the threeregions in a bid to qualify for the World Group Play-offs on 19-21 September, where they will join this year’s first round losers, Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Israel, Korea Rep, Peru, Romania and Serbia. The draw for the World Group Playoffs will be held on Wednesday 16 April.Nominations for all ties, including zonal ties, can be found on the Davis Cup website, where you can also view up-to-date results, plus live scoring, news, photographs and audio interviews from the World Group quarterfinal ties.