Radek Stepanek, Juan Monaco to open Davis Cup semis

Radek Stepanek of holders Czech Republic will take on Argentina’s Juan Monaco in the opening rubber of the Davis Cup semifinals starting in Prague on Friday. Stepanek, the world number 61 and the Czech number two, will face Argentina’s number-one player, the 30th-ranked Monaco, at Prague’s O2 Arena.
After that rubber, fifth-ranked Tomas Berdych will face world number 93 Leonardo Mayer on the superfast acrylic hardcourt, on which the Czechs won last year’s finals against Spain.

On Saturday, the Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely and Lukas Rosol are due to face Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos and Carlos Berlocq. But the Czechs are likely to change their doubles duo and rely on Berdych and Stepanek, who have so far only lost one of 13 Davis Cup doubles rubbers together since teaming up in 2007. The winner of the tie will take on either Canada or Serbia in the November 15-17 finals. The two teams last clashed last year when the Czechs beat Argentina 3-2 in the semifinals in Buenos Aires, before lifting the trophy after a 3-2 final win against Spain.

Argentina captain Martin Jaite has shunned world number 45 Berlocq for the singles, while his Czech counterpart is likely to rest out-of-form 46th-ranked Rosol. Argentina are missing their top star Juan Martin Del Potro, who is taking a break from the competition this year, as well as an injured David Nalbandian, who has won both Davis Cup doubles so far this year with Zeballos. The 2012 Davis Cup triumph was the first for the Czechs since Czechoslovakia, which split peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, won the trophy in 1980 with a team led by a 20-year-old Ivan Lendl. Argentina, who have played three finals in the last seven years, are still seeking their first Davis Cup trophy.

The draw will be an intense one inspite the head to head meetings between the two sides earlier in the history od Davis Cup.