Germany vs. Australia Highlights Opening Round Davis Cup Action
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

The Davis Cup gets underway for 2018 with the main action taking place in the World Group opening round. Here is your look at all the weekend action.

France vs. Netherlands

With a strong doubles team of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, along with Richard Gasquet and Lucas Pouille for singles, defending champions France are a heavy favorite at home on hard courts against Holland. Their pairing of Thiemo De Bakker and Robin Haase, with Matwe Middelkoop and Jean-Julien Rojer for doubles has plenty of peak talent but they have frequently failed to reach their ceiling. France should be the strong favorite.

Japan vs. Italy

Despite being on the road, the pairing of Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi has an edge against Taro Daniel and Yuichi Sugita for Japan. Simone Bolelli and Paolo Lorenzi should win the doubles rubber over Ben Mclachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama, giving Italy the advantage on hard courts.

Spain vs. Great Britain

On clay in Spain, the home team will be a heavy favorite against team GB. Missing their top singles players, Liam Broady and Cam Norrie will carry the Union Jack against Albert Ramos and Roberto Bautista Agut. Pablo Carreno Busta and Feliciano Lopez should play doubles against Dominic Inglot/Jamie Murray, but outside of the doubles rubber Spain should win big, dominating singles.

Australia vs. Germany

In the biggest tie of the weekend Nick Kyrgios and Alex De Minaur go up against Alexander Zverev and Germany. J.L. Struff is also on hand for singles, while the doubles pairings are John Peers/Matt Ebden vs. Peter Gojowczyk/Tim Puetz. With both De Minaur and Kyrgios playing well, and the Aussies having a great doubles pairing, team Australia should win at home on hard courts.

Kazakhstan vs. Switzerland

Mikhail Kukushkin and Henri Laaksonen are the only players with notable ATP experience in thsi tie. Kazakhstan rounds out their team with Dmitry Popko, and Timur Khabibulin/Alexander Nedovyesov for doubles. The Swiss have Adrian Bodmer, Marc-Andrea Huesler and Luca Margaroli. A young Swiss team should struggle on the road on indoor hard.

Croatia vs. Canada

Croatia’s Borna Coric takes to the clay courts of his homeland opposite fellow young gun Denis Shapovalov in this Davis Cup contest. Viktor Galovic and the veteran doubles pairing of Ivan Dodig/Franko Skugor round out Croatia’s team. Canada has veteran journeyman Peter Polansky, plus Vasek Pospisil and the ageless Daniel Nestor. Presuming Shapovalov can defeat Coric, Canada should be slight favorites on the road.

Serbia vs. USA

Sam Querrey and John Isner will have to play well on clay in Serbia in order to get the USA into the next round. Ryan Harrison and Steve Johnson are also on a balanced American team. Serbia is missing their best, as they have Laslo Djere, Dusan Lajovic, Nikola Milojevic, and Miljan Zekic on their team. Even on clay, Djere and Lajovic aren’t as good as the American singles options, and team USA should win.

Belgium vs. Hungary

Defending finalists Belgium have their core pairing of David Goffin and Ruben Bemelmans to go up against the rising Marton Fucsovics, and Attila Balazs for Hungary. At home on hard courts in Belgium, Goffin should lead his team to a win. Julien Cagnina/Joris De Loore will be playing in the doubles tie, perhaps to clinch a win.