Argentine Davis Cup captain Alberto Mancini has confirmed that David will lead the team in the semi-final tie against Russia from September 19 - 21. He has also nominated rising star Juan Martin Del Potro to play singles, as well as Guillermo Canas and Agustin Calleri.
According to David's official website, Mancini expects Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev to play singles for Russia. (While Dmitry Tursunov will probably make an appearance in doubles - my guess.) Though no official nominations have been made yet.
David has never played against Andreev, but he has a 5-3 match record against Davydenko. (Del Potro stands at 1-0 vs. Andreev and 0-1 vs. Davydenko.)
Argentina and Russia have faced each other four times in Davis Cup, with Argentina winning only one tie (in 2003, at home & on clay). Their last encounter took place in the 2006 final, which Russia won 3-2 at Moscow. Back then, David won both his singles matches against Safin and Davydenko, but it wasn't enough.
It will be Argentina's chance to reach a third Davis Cup final after 1981 and 2006. And maybe win it this time...
The tie will be held at the Parque Roca in Buenos Aires, where the Argentine team defeated Great Britain and Sweden earlier this year (both times with a score of 4-1) and which can accomodate up to 14.000 spectators.
Play will start on Friday, September 19 at 11 am local time (GMT -3hrs). The doubles match will take place on Saturday, September 20 at 12 am. On Sunday, September 21 play will resume at 11 am.
Source
Edit: The official team nominations are out.
Argentina
David Nalbandian
Juan Martin Del Potro
Agustin Calleri
Guillermo Canas
Captain: Alberto Mancini
Russia
Nikolay Davydenko
Igor Andreev
Dmitry Tursunov
Igor Kunitsyn
Captain: Shamil Tarpishev
For more info visit the official Davis Cup website.
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