DAVIS CUP: USA V COLOMBIA

This match will be played red clay in Colombia's capital city Bogota. The home side will have plenty of support from the Colombian crowd as they try to reach the top level of Davis Cup for the very first time. If this was on any other surface then you would look to the USA to whitewash their opponents. Isner, Querrey and Fish all excel on hardcourts even grass, but clay is not their favourite, though all of them have had some success on it. You would fancy the USA to chose Isner and Querrey to play the singles matches. Querrey has reached 2 finals on clay this season and Isner have reached one final and a third round place at the French Open. The doubles team will consist of the same three players, probably the best partnership would be Isner/Querrey as they reached the doubles final on the clay in the Rome Masters earlier this year. Ryan Harrison joins the squad for the experience, and will only get a chance if the tie is already wrapped up for the Americans. So what about the Columbians? Could they cause an upset?

Santiago Giraldo is there number one player. He has had a great breakthorugh season in 2010. The 22 year old started the season outside the top 100 but moved to a career high of 54 and now sits at number 61. He has had great success in Colombian soil in the challenger circuit so is used to the conditions, albeit these tournaments where against poor opponents. he showed he had an eye for the big time in Rome where he qualified for the Masters event and Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3 6-0 to reach the third round. He also has a notable win against Philip Kohlschreiber of Germany on clay in 2010. In Madrid Giraldo played Isner and won the first set 6-1 before losing the second on a tie-break and then lost 6-2 in the final set. He knows he can compete. Alejandro is probably best known for nearly knocking out Roger Federer in the first round of Wimbledon this year. He is an experienced player on the ATP tour and has some big wins to his name. He also reached the final of a challenger in Bogota this year and has wins against Monfils,Hewitt,Gulbis, Ljubicic this year, though he prefers hardcourts to the clay. Cabal and Falla will probably play the doubles for the South Americans. The USA are big favourites for this match, but with the conditions likely to favour the home side and a partisian crowd to cheer them on I wouldn't be suprised if it is closer than we expect.

PREDICTION:

USA to beat Colombia 3-2