Written by
The Sports Network
Oviedo, Spain (Sports Network) - Reigning champion Spain will begin defense of
its Davis Cup title with a 2012 opening-round tie against Kazakhstan this
week, as the festivities will get underway Friday with a singles rubber
between former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero and Mikhail Kukushkin.
The best-of-five affair will be staged on red clay in Oviedo, where the host
Spaniards will play without its top-two stars, Australian Open runner-up
Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer. As a matter of fact, Spain is missing four of
its top-five players overall.
Ferrero-Kukushkin will be followed Friday by a bout between Nicolas Almagro
and the visitors' Andrey Golubev.
Saturday's doubles will pit a Spanish tandem of Marcel Granollers and Marc
Lopez against a duo of Evgeny Korolev and Yuri Schukin, while Sunday's reverse
singles currently pit Almagro against Kukushkin and the former French Open
champion Ferrero versus Golubev.
The mighty Spaniards, who have won five of the last 12 Davis Cup
championships, are led by first-year captain Alex Corretja, while team
Kazakhstan is piloted by Yegor Shaldunov.
Spain, which beat Argentina in last year's Davis Cup final in Seville, and
Kazakhstan have never met in Davis Cup play.
The winner here will face the Austria-Russia victor in the quarterfinals in
April.
The Sports Network