[SirBloody Idiot]

East CWLand full strength for Davis Cup

East CWLand have named a full-strength squad to take on Spain in Logrono on March 5. With in form players Jefferson Drake & Randy Smeltz leading the charge, the Easterners will rate themselves a huge chance of picking up a result in Spain who will be intent on making up for their quarter final failure last season.

After taking a 4-1 win over rivals West CWLand earlier this month, the East made one change with Jamee Hancianu out for in form player Jarkko Maxum. He will be there mainly for experience, with Drake expected to play two singles rubbers as well as the doubles with regular partner Martti Korpinen.

Squad: Jefferson Drake, Martti Korpinen, Jarkko Maxum, Randy Smeltz.

Blanco withdraws from East CWLand clash

Spain's Davis Cup chances have been dealt a huge blow with news that Daniel Páez Blanco will not appear in the March 5-7 tie against DR CWLand in Logrono. Blanco, unbeaten on clay in the Open Era, has spent time out with a neck strain after his Australian Open final earlier this month and chose not to risk it in the clash ahead of the North American Masters swing.

Spain chose Marc Carretero ahead of the higher ranked player Javier Villaneuva to take his place in the squad.

Squad: Ion Andueza, Marc Carretero, Sanchez Emelio, Sergio Joaquín.

Player nominations announced for World Group

The player nominations have been submitted ahead of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first round ties, being played from 5-7 March.

Radivoj Daneu and Daniel Micic lead Serbia's title defence alongside Dusko Milosevic and Savo Petkovia. Serbia were shock winners last season after beating the likes of the United States and Spain, and will begin away from home in Buenos Aires.

Argentina also come into the tie full strength with World No. 11 Juan Moreno being supported in the singles line-up by Paolo Mandonna. The Argentines were beaten first round last year on their home courts, and will hope to reverse that result this time.

The big news coming out of Spain is that World No. 2 Daniel Paez Blanco will not be representing his country in the much-anticipated tie against East CWLand in Logrono. Instead, Sanchez Emelio and Sergio Joaquin will likely lead the team against a very dangerous East CWLand pair of Jefferson Drake and Randy Smeltz.

Finally, Porec in Croatia hosts the other big clash against the Czech Republic. On Sunday in Marseille, Radek Spidla comfortably accounted for Miroslav Brdar and will no doubt take that form into his likely showdown away from home against the World No. 14. He does, however, have to contend with the surface; Spidla's Achilles heel has been his form on clay and he will no doubt be tested by Brdar and Nilikar Midid on it.

Among other top players to be nominated for their nations are the United States' Jason Hall and Darcy Cowan, Great Britain's Henry Charles, Switzerland's Almen Benaglio and Russia's Dmitry Orlov.

The full list of nominations is below.

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SERBIA V ARGENTINA
> Dates: 5-7 March
> Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
> Surface: Outdoor clay

> Players: Radivoj Daneu, Danijel Micic, Dusko Milosevic, Savo Petkovia

> Players: Juan Moreno, Paolo Mandonna, Miguel Bertolotto, Emelio Cobos

JAPAN V SWEDEN
> Dates: 5-7 March
> Location: Stockholm, Sweden
> Surface: Indoor hard

> Players: Ninteh Doh, Akihiko Veno, Kenta Yusa, Kiyo Osaka

> Players: Bjorn Donaldson, Henrikk Henrikkson, Linus Petrus, Erik Viksten

UNITED STATES V ROMANIA
> Dates: 5-7 March
> Location: Winston-Salem, NC, USA
> Surface: Indoor hard

> Players: Jason Hall, Darcy Cowan, Hugh James, Ralph Robinson

> Players: Bogdan Maurer, George Costea, Viorel Iftime, Marius Micu

SWITZERLAND V CHILE
> Dates: 5-7 March
> Location: Geneva, Switzerland
> Surface: Indoor carpet

> Players: Almen Benaglio, Pascal Schmidt, Victor Zsasz, Benjamin Hartmann

> Players: Jefferson Quezada, Renato Varas, Alex Rojas, Leonel Romero

SPAIN V DR CWLAND
> Dates: 5-7 March
> Location: Logrono, Spain
> Surface: Outdoor clay

> Players: Sanchez Emelio, Sergio Joaquin, Ion Andueza, Marc Carretero

> Players: Randy Smeltz, Jefferson Drake, Martti Korpinen, Jarkko Maxum

GREAT BRITAIN V AUSTRIA
> Dates: 5-7 March
> Location: Wimbledon, London, Great Britain
> Surface: Outdoor grass

> Players: Henry Charles, Oscar Highsmith, Sebastian Moss, Liam Bailey

> Players: Zbiginiew Boniek, Heinz Hainisch, Martin Reiter, Jurgen Boniek

CROATIA V CZECH REPUBLIC
> Dates: 5-7 March
> Location: Porec, Croatia
> Surface: Indoor clay

> Players: Miroslav Brdar, Nilikar Midid, Ivan Cesljar, Jiri Gross

> Players: Radek Spidla, Petr Brozik, Vaclav Zeman, Michal Simr

BELGIUM V RUSSIA
> Dates: 5-7 March
> Location: Bree, Belgium
> Surface: Indoor clay

> Players: Yves Parmentier, Mark Harmel, Jochen Sas, Christophe Norman

> Players: Dmitry Orlov, Gregor Gorshkov, Boris Denisov, Vladimir Gryzlov

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