GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: Roger Federer will be first out on court for the Swiss on Friday as the nation bids to reach its first Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final for 22 years.
Thursday's draw saw the 18-time Grand Slam champion
(sic) pitched against Italy's Simone Bolelli for the first match, and Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka will follow against Italian No. 1 Fabio Fognini.
For the time being at least, Federer and Wawrinka are back again on Saturday as the power combination for the doubles, against Paolo Lorenzi and Andreas Seppi.
Bolelli was a surprise pick as the Italian No. 2, as at No. 76 he is ranked 28 places behind Seppi, who played singles in both rounds this year to help Italy reach its first Davis Cup semifinal since 1998. It's likely however that Italian Captain Corrado Barazzutti felt that Federer's 10-0 record against Seppi would do him no favours in this crucial encounter, and neither would Wawrinka's 8-3 record against Seppi. Bolelli has less history against both Swiss, although he still has losing records.
The odds appear to be stacked in favour of the hosts in the next few days. Although Italy leads previous Davis Cup encounters 3-2, Switzerland has never lost on home soil to the Italians and won their last two match-ups. Add in the fervent local support of 15,000 fans in the Palexpo over the next three days and Italy's No. 1 Fabio Fognini will need all the passion he can muster and a repeat of his heroics in the quarterfinal against Great Britain.
More soon...
The full draw is as follows:
Roger Federer (SUI) v Simone Bolelli (ITA)
Stan Wawrinka (SUI) v Fabio Fognini (ITA)
Roger Federer/Stan Wawrinka (SUI) v Paolo Lorenzi/Andreas Seppi (ITA)
Roger Federer (SUI) v Fabio Fognini (ITA)
Stan Wawrinka (SUI) v Simone Bolelli (ITA)
Read more at
http://www.daviscup.com/en/news/184138.aspx#m6O0XX8spGf6gVwh.99