Davis Cup Betting / Editor / 03 April 2007 /

THE men take a break from the ATP Tour this week to focus on the Davis Cup before launching themselves into the clay court season.

And it is quarter-finals weekend for the big boys - while John Lloyd's Great Britain team must contend with the Netherlands in Birmingham in their Europe/Africa Group One second-round contest.

Britain, who had a bye in the first round, will face Serbia or Georgia if they overcome the Dutch - and a clash with Serbia would pit world number 11 Andy Murray against his fellow 19-year-old superstar Novak Djokovic, who won the Miami Masters at the weekend having beaten the Scot on the way to the final in both Miami, where he beat Guillermo Canas, and Indian Wells, where he lost to Rafael Nadal.

But first Murray must overcome a groin strain if he is to face the Dutch - and possibly partner his older brother Jamie in the doubles on his Davis Cup debut. If the younger sibling is ruled out, at least Lloyd can rely on Tim Henman, back in Cup action for the first time since 2004, and veteran Greg Rusedski for singles duty.

Britain have met the Dutch twice before and won both ties. Robin Haase, 20 on Friday's first day of action, and Raemon Sluiter, 29 on Friday week, are ranked 141 and 140 respectively so Lloyd's men should have too much strength in depth.

This is reflected in the market as Britain are strongly fancied at 1.08 to win the tie and move into the September play-offs for a place in the World Group, while the Netherlands are available at 6.8 to pull off a surprise.

In the World Group, defending champions RUSSIA take on FRANCE in Moscow - and a line-up which boasts Nikolay Davydenko, Mikhail Youzhny and Marat Safin should be too strong for the French.

Russia won their clashes at the same stage in 2005 and 2006 and this is their seventh meeting overall with Russia leading 4-2. But the one they all remember is the 2002 final in Paris when Youzhny hit back from two sets down to win the decisive rubber and give Russia the Cup for the first time.

Russia reached the last eight with a nail-biting 3-2 win in Chile when Igor Andreev was the hero, beating Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu. France, by comparison, cruised past Romania 4-1.

Betfair punters have Russia favourites at 1.35, with France on offer at 3.05, to move into the semi-finals where they would meet the winner of the tie between BELGIUM and GERMANY in Ostend.

It is the little and large show for Belgium with 5ft 5in Olivier Rochus (world number 38) and 6ft 4in Kristof Vliegen (51) taking on Tommy Haas (10) and Florian Mayer (41). The Belgians can also call on 6ft 8in veteran Dick Norman or Rochus' brother Christophe.

Despite home support for Belgium, the Germans, who have won all previous seven meetings between the two, should be good enough to build on the 3-2 win over Croatia in the previous round in this only quarter-final match-up between two unseeded teams.

In the bottom half of the draw, the UNITED STATES face SPAIN in the tie of the round in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The Americans have a formidable line-up in Andy Roddick, James Blake and, for the doubles, Mike and Bob Bryan.

Spain are without the injured world number two Rafael Nadal although, in Tommy Robredo and David Ferrer, they have two singles players good enough to be in the top 20.

The two teams have met seven times and the Americans have the edge, leading 4-3. But the last time they met was in the 2004 final when Spain triumphed 3-2 in Seville to win the Davis Cup for the second time.

Punters appear to believe that Nadal's absence will be key as the USA are trading at 1.27 to make the semi-finals, with Spain available at 2.92 to go through where they will meet the winners of the tie between unseeded SWEDEN and last year's runners-up ARGENTINA.

Despite having to face the Swedish support in Gothenburg, Argentina should have too much ammunition, especially as they have in-form Guillermo Canas - twice the conqueror of Roger Federer in recent weeks - to support David Nalbandian in the singles.

On top of that Sweden lost 5-0 to Argentina in last year's first round - only their second ever meeting with the score 1-1 in head to heads. Robin Soderling and former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson will be the key men in Mats Wilander's team. If they can win two points in the singles then doubles ace Jonas Bjorkman might be able to do the rest ... but it's a tall order, which is why Argentina are trading at 1.49 with Betfair to reach the semi-finals.

It all points to Russia v Germany and USA v Argentina in the semi-finals but who will win the Cup? Argentina are the favourites at 4, ahead of Russia at 4.3 and USA at 4.5 with Spain next best at 10.5. France are on offer at 11.5 with Germany trading at 12.5.

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