Porec, Croatia (My Sportsbook) - The Davis Cup semifinal between host Croatia and the Czech Republic will commence Friday with a singles rubber between Ivo Karlovic and the visitors' Radek Stepanek. The best-of-five tie is being staged on indoor red clay at Zatika. Karlovic and Stepanek will be followed by Friday's other singles bout, which will pit Marin Cilic against Czech Tomas Berdych. Cilic is fresh off his quarterfinal appearance at the U.S. Open last week. Saturday's doubles match will pit a Croatian tandem of Roko Karanusic and Lovro Zovko against a Czech pairing of Lukas Dlouhy and Jan Hajek, while Sunday's reverse singles are supposed to pit Cilic against Stepanek and Karlovic versus Berdych. The Croats are captained by Goran Prpic, while the Czechs are guided by Jaroslav Navratil. The two nations have never met in Davis Cup play. Led by the great Ivan Lendl, the Czech Republic captured its lone Davis Cup title, as the former Czechoslovakia, back in 1980, while Croatia won its only championship just four year ago. The Czechs are in the semis for the first time in 13 years. The Czech Republic-Croatia winner will meet the Spain-Israel victor in the final in the first week of December. |
