ITF Press Release, September 5, 2018

Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic and Dominic Thiem headline the nominations for the upcoming round of Davis Cup by BNP Paribas on 14-16 September.

World No. 1 Nadal and No. 7 Cilic will lead their nations into battle in semifinal clashes against France and USA, respectively, while No. 9 Thiem will hope to help Austria defeat Australia and secure an all-important seeding ahead of the qualifying round in February, which marks the start of a new format for Davis Cup in 2019.

With the new Davis Cup Finals set to involve 18 nations in a week-long season finale at the end of 2019, nations will compete in next week’s World Group play-off ties with an eye on February’s qualifier round.

The eight winners of the World Group play-offs will join the four losing quarterfinalists from 2018 as seeded nations in the draw for the 2019 Davis Cup Finals Qualifier Round.

The eight losers of the World Group play-offs are not guaranteed a place in the Davis Cup Finals Qualifier Round. The 12 unseeded nations in February’s qualifer round will be determined by the Davis Cup Nations Ranking of Monday 17 September, with six nations coming from Europe/Africa, three from Americas and three from Asia/Oceania.

WORLD GROUP SEMIFINALS
FRANCE v SPAIN
Venue: Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille, FRA (hard – indoor)
France
Lucas Pouille
Richard Gasquet
Benoit Paire
Julien Benneteau
Nicolas Mahut
Captain: Yannick Noah
Spain
Rafael Nadal
Pablo Carreno Busta
Roberto Bautista Agut
Feliciano Lopez
Marcel Granollers
Captain: Sergi Bruguera

CROATIA v USA
Venue: Sportski centar Visnjik, Zadar, CRO (clay – outdoor)
Croatia
Marin Cilic
Borna Coric
Franko Skugor
Mate Pavic
Ivan Dodig
Captain: Zeljko Krajan
USA
Jack Sock
Steve Johnson
Sam Querrey
Frances Tiafoe
Mike Bryan
Captain: Jim Courier

WORLD GROUP PLAY-OFFS
ARGENTINA v COLOMBIA
Venue: Estadio Cerrado Doctor Aldo Cantoni, San Juan, ARG (clay – indoor)
Argentina
Diego Schwartzman
Guido Pella
Horacio Zeballos
Maximo Gonzalez
Captain: Gaston Gaudio
Colombia
Daniel Elahi Galan
Santiago Giraldo
Nicolas Mejia
Juan-Sebastian Cabal
Robert Farah
Captain: Pablo Gonzalez

GREAT BRITAIN v UZBEKISTAN
Venue: Emirates Arena, Glasgow, GBR (hard – indoor)
Great Britain
Cameron Norrie
Jay Clarke
Daniel Evans
Jamie Murray
Dominic Inglot
Captain: Leon Smith
Uzbekistan
Denis Istomin
Jurabek Karimov
Khumoyun Sultanov
Sanjar Fayziev
Farrukh Dustov
Captain: Petr Lebed

AUSTRIA v AUSTRALIA
Prajnesh Gunneswaran
Arjun Kadhe
Rohan Bopanna
Divij Sharan
Captain: Mahesh Bhupathi

CANADA v NETHERLANDS
Venue: Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto, CAN (hard – indoor)
Canada
Milos Raonic
Denis Shapovalov
Vasek Pospisil
Felix Auger-Aliassime
Daniel Nestor
Captain: Frank Dancevic
Netherlands
Robin Haase
Thiemo de Bakker
Scott Griekspoor
Jean-Julien Rojer
Matwe Middelkoop
Captain: Paul Haarhuis

HUNGARY v CZECH REPUBLIC
Venue: Lurdy Haz, Budapest, HUN (clay – outdoor)
Hungary
Attila Balazs
Mate Valkusz
Zsombor Piros
Gabor Borsos
Captain: Gabor Koves
Czech Republic
Jiri Vesely
Lukas Rosol
Adam Pavlasek
Roman Jebavy
Captain: Jaroslav Navratil

JAPAN v BOSNIA/HERZEGOVINA
Venue: ITC Utsubo Tennis Center, Osaka, JPN (hard – outdoor)
Japan
Taro Daniel
Yuichi Sugita
Go Soeda
Yasutaka Uchiyama
Ben Mclachlan
Captain: Satoshi Iwabuchi
Bosnia/Herzegovina
Mirza Basic
Nerman Fatic
Darko Bojanovic
Playing captain: Tomislav Brkic

EUROPE/AFRICA ZONE GROUP I FIRST ROUND PLAY-OFFS
UKRAINE v PORTUGAL
Venue: Campa Tennis Club, Bucha, UKR (hard – outdoor)
Ukraine
Sergiy Stakhovsky
Illya Marchenko
Denys Molchanov
Pavel Shumeiko
Captain: Andrei Medvedev
Portugal
Joao Sousa
Pedro Sousa
Gastao Elias
Joao Domingues
Captain: Nuno Marques

RUSSIA v BELARUS
Venue: Luzhniki Small Sports Arena, Moscow, RUS (hard – indoor)
Russia
Karen Khachanov
Daniil Medvedev
Andrey Rublev
Evgeny Donskoy
Evgeny Karlovskiy
Captain: Shamil Tarpischev
Belarus
Ilya Ivashka
Egor Gerasimov
Max Mirnyi
Andrei Vasilevski
Alexander Zgirovsky
Captain: Vladimir Voltchkov

ASIA/OCEANIA ZONE GROUP I SECOND ROUND PLAY-OFF
KOREA, REPUBLIC v NEW ZEALAND
Venue: Gimcheon Sports Town Tennis Courts, Gimcheon, KOR (hard – indoor)
Korea, Rep.
Duckhee Lee
Son Ji Hoon
Hong Seong Chan
Lim Yong-Kyu
Lee Jea Moon
Captain: Chung Heesung
New Zealand
Jose Statham
Ajeet Rai
Michael Venus
Artem Sitak
Marcus Daniell
Captain: Alistair Hunt

AMERICAS ZONE GROUP I SECOND ROUND PLAY-OFF
BARBADOS v ECUADOR
Venue: National Tennis Centre, St Michael, BAR (hard – outdoor)
Barbados
Darian King
Haydn Lewis
Matthew Foster-Estwick
Xavier Lawrence
Kaipo Marshall
Captain: Damien Applewhaite
Ecuador
Roberto Quiroz
Emilio Gomez
Gonzalo Escobar
Diego Hidalgo
Captain: Raul Viver

EUROPE/AFRICA ZONE GROUP II THIRD ROUND
ROMANIA v POLAND
Venue: Sala Polivalenta Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, ROU (clay – indoor)
Romania
Marius Copil
Bogdan Ionut Apostol
Adrian Ungur
Horia Tecau
Florin Mergea
Captain: Gabriel Trifu
Poland
Hubert Hurkacz
Kamil Majchrzak
Wojciech Marek
Lukasz Kubot
Marcin Matkowski
Captain: Radoslaw Szymanik

EGYPT v FINLAND
Venue: El Gezira Sporting Club, Cairo, EGY (clay – outdoor)
Egypt
Mohamed Safwat
Youssef Hossam
Karim-Mohamed Maamoun
Sherif Sabry
Akram El Sallaly
Captain: Mostafa Naim Dalam
Finland
Harri Heliovaara
Emil Ruusuvuori
Patrik Niklas-Salminen
Otto Virtanen
Henri Kontinen
Captain: Jarkko Nieminen

ASIA/OCEANIA ZONE GROUP II THIRD ROUND
THAILAND v LEBANON
Venue: The National Tennis Development Center, Nonthaburi, THA (hard – outdoor)
Thailand
Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul
Palaphoom Kovapitukted
Sanchai Ratiwatana
Sonchat Ratiwatana
Kasidit Samrej
Captain: Weerapat Doakmaiklee
Lebanon
Benjamin Hassan
Hady Habib
Giovani Samaha
Michel Saade
Jad Ballout
Captain: Nasri Michel Achkar

AMERICAS ZONE GROUP II THIRD ROUND
URUGUAY v MEXICO
Venue: Carrasco Lawn Tennis Club, Montevideo, URU (clay – outdoor)
Uruguay
Pablo Cuevas
Martin Cuevas
Nicolas Xiviller
Rodrigo Arus
Francisco Llanes
Captain: Enrique Perez-Cassarino
Mexico
Lucas Gomez
Gerardo Lopez Villasenor
Luis Patino
Santiago Gonzalez
Miguel-Angel Reyes-Varela
Captain: Leonardo Lavalle