Nikolay Davydenko and Marat Safin will lead
Russia in next month's Davis Cup semi-final against the U.S. in
Moscow.
Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev has named world number six
Davydenko and former world number one Safin
along with Dmitry Tursunov, 2002 Davis Cup hero Mikhail Youzhny
and newcomer Evgeny Korolev for the Sept. 22-24
tie at the Olympic stadium.
"Too bad that Igor Andreev is still out injured but even
without him we have a very strong team" said
Tarpishchev.
"Besides, we're playing at home and on our
preferred surface clay. It should give us the edge," he
added.
"Korolev did very well at this year's
French Open while Davydenko and Tursunov are also doing
well at the moment."
Korolev, an 18-year-old cousin of
Anna Kournikova, reached the second round at Roland Garros
before losing to 2004 French Open champion Gaston Gaudio of
Argentina in four sets**.
Tarpishchev said that his only worry was
Safin.
Last week Safin moved out of the top 100 in
the ATP rankings for the first time since making his professional
debut at a 17-year-old in 1997.
The Russian, who has been struggling to recover from a knee injury,
decided to take a break from his Swedish coach Peter Lundgren
earlier this month.
Safin has not won a title since beating
Lleyton Hewitt in the Australian Open final in January 2005.
"Quite honestly, I'm disappointed with his game and his
attitude," Tarpishchev said.
"But you can never count him out. He
has been the key to our success in Davis Cup in the past and I'm
sure, he'll do all he can to help us against the U.S. once
again."
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