Spain begins the assault on the 'Salad Bowl' against the tough Croatia

MADRID, 22 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish team will begin this Wednesday (4:00 p.m.) their participation in the 'F8' of the 2022 Davis Cup Finals that is hosted by the José María Martín Carpena Sports Palace with a duel that is quite tough against a Croatia that comes with a level team.

Spain begins the assault towards its seventh 'Salad Bowl' with a quarterfinal match against one of the rivals that has managed to put together a better five, not only with two proven players such as veteran Marin Cilic and Borna Coric, but also with a very powerful with Nikola Metkic and Mate Pavic, and a surface that can favor them.

On the other hand, the team led by Sergi Bruguera goes to this final phase of the competition without its two main tennis players, although with players who have already demonstrated their level and who, by ranking, have the best of the four destined to play the singles, and the support of a crowd that can also be key as always in the Davis Cup.

Without Carlos Alcaraz, number one in the world who was injured in Paris-Bercy, and Rafa Nadal, number two and who resigned a long time ago, the responsibility of fighting for everything will be in charge of Pablo Carreño, the 13th in the ATP ranking, and Roberto Bautista, 21, who will be accompanied by Marcel Granollers, Pedro Martínez and Albert Ramos.

The double winner of Roland Garros has already warned that the 'indoor' track set by Kosmos and the International Federation is even faster than the one they had in September in the 'round robin' of the Valencian Fuente de San Luis, a round where they beat Serbia and South Korea, but could not, despite the presence of Alcaraz, with Canada.

In Valencia, due to injury, a Carreño was not present who is facing another good opportunity to shine and who will have to be number one as happened last year in Madrid. In fact, he has won only three of his eight games, a service sheet that he hopes to improve after an 'indoor' campaign that has not done him too well and against a very expert Cilic who moves well on these types of surfaces .

The Croatian, 17th in the world, dominates 4-1 in the statistics, but the last duel, in Tokyo 2020, was for the Asturian, who also hopes that the usually reliable Roberto Bautista will give him a little more 'tranquility' by winning the first and Always important point to Borna Coric.

The player from Castellón usually performs quite well in recent years in the Davis Cup where he has a record of 13 wins and eight losses. In Valencia he gave his three individual points and hopes to maintain the streak against an opponent, number 26 in the world, who clearly beat him this year in Miami (6-2, 6-3) and who is dangerous on indoor courts.

In the event that there is equality after the two individual matches, they will have to decide the double and there Croatia has a high level with the couple formed by Nikola Metkic and Mate Pavic, although they come with an extra load after being runners-up in the ATP Finals. Sergi Bruguera has the trick of Marcel Granollers, who will probably play with Pedro Martínez.