Davis Cup: Spain Is the Overwhelming Favourite in the Semifinals

At the behest of the Cap, a few of us came together and decided to write a preview of the Davis Cup Semifinals.

Rajat gets a bit too analytical here about the Czech Republic.

Clarabella's article from the perspective of Croatia is here.

The Cap is doing his bit for Israel here.

This is about the defending champions, Spain, as they take on Israel.

Spain is a very solid team on any surface. A roll call would normally be enough to send most teams walking off the court shaking their heads in hopelessness.

Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez. That is almost two teams.

This lineup would sound formidable on any surface, and nigh unbeatable on clay, with arguably the world's best ever clay-courter leading them.

Spain had a relatively easy draw against Serbia in the first round. Without Verdasco playing this time, Nadal and Ferrer played the singles, while Lopez and Robredo paired up for the doubles.

Serbia's hope perhaps would have been that Djokovic would beat Ferrer in the opening rubber, and then Troicki and Zimonjic would win the doubles, so as to leave them with a fighting chance in the reverse singles.

But the matches were taking place on clay which meant that the Spanish armada was at its best. Of the two things that Serbia had calculated or hoped for, only one came true, and Spain won with a commanding score of 4-1 as Djokovic lost both his matches.

They next met up against Germany, again on clay. But this time it was Nadal who was missing from the lineup. It also did not help that Kohlschreiber was on fire.

Kohl won both his singles rubbers, his encounter with Verdasco proving to be a thriller as the last set was squeezed out at 8-6. With Verdasco winning only one of his rubbers, and Robredo going down on his one, the doubles proved to be crucial, and Ferrero had to be brought in to replace Robredo for the reverse singles against Beck, which he comfortably won.

The scoreline was 3-2 this time, a much closer affair than before.

In the semifinals, they seem to be facing a much easier draw against Israel. Though they have neither of their best players on their side this time, the depth on the team is good enough to allow them to move ahead comfortably.

David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero take up the singles matches while Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez team up for the doubles. It is suggested that the team captain, Alberto Costa, may have chosen Ferrero over Robredo for the singles even though the latter is a higher ranked player on Tour because of their respective current forms.

Harrl Levy and Sela are fielded for the singles by Israel, and Andy Ram teams up with Jonathan Elrich for the doubles.

The matches will be played on clay.

Ferrer and Levy have never met on the Tour, while Ferrer holds a head-to-head of 1-1 against Sela, but it must be noted that both the matches came up on hardcourts, with Ferrer winning the last meeting comfortably.

Both of Ferrero's matches against Levy were on clay and both of them involved a tie-breaker. And both of them were won by Ferrero. Ferrero and Sela have never met on Tour.

Sela can be a tough customer on his day. He has a ranking of 29 currently, and he has beaten Ferrer. But it is not going to help him that he is among the shorter players on the Tour, is more of a serve-volleyer, and has a single-fisted backhand, when you consider the playing surface.

Both Ferrer and Ferrero are seasoned clay-court players, with Ferrero being a former champion at Roland Garros. Both singles rubbers most probably will be won by the Spaniards, but it may not come as a surprise if Sela takes one of his to five sets or even wins one of them.

On the doubles front, however, Ram and Elrich are a bit of favourites, having won many titles together on the tour. But the fact exists that the duo has done well predominantly on the faster surfaces, and might find it tough against Robredo/Lopez, and this match could go down the wire.

A good balance of probability might suggest that Spain will easily go through with a comfortable 4-1 victory.

The clay looks red hot!