The Davis Cup group-stage continues on Wednesday and among the teams in action are Great Britain, who will hope to be able to call upon US Open semi-finalist Jack Draper for their clash with Finland.

While Great Britain have their fingers crossed regarding their star performer, defending champions Italy will face Brazil without theirs, as newly-crowned US Open winner Jannik Sinner is understandably swerving the group action off the back of his exploits at Flushing Meadows.

It is a similar story for the United States, who will be without New York runner up Taylor Fritz for their clash with Chile, but Spain will have their big hitter involved, with Carlos Alcaraz set to feature against the Czech Republic after his earlier than expected exit from the final Grand Slam of the year.

Davis Cup Tennis Tips

• Spain to beat Czech Republic 2-1
• Great Britain to beat Finland 2-0

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Spain to be pushed hard in Valencia

Spain are six-time Davis Cup champions and should overcome the Czech Republic in their Group B opener on the hard courts of the Pabellon Fuente de San Luis, Valencia.

Carlos Alcaraz will certainly have a point to prove following his shock second-round exit at the US Open and the four-time Grand Slam winner should have too much for either Jiri Lehecka or Jakub Mensik.

However, the same cannot be said of Spain’s other seasoned singles players, Roberto Bautista Agut and Pablo Carreno Busta, with the former struggling to find his best this year and the latter still finding his feet after returning from elbow surgery.

Both Lehecka or Mensik – the latter who took the scalp of Felix Auger-Aliassime on his way to the third round of the US Open – should have too much for either of those players or indeed Pedro Martinez, should Spain opt to deploy him in the singles instead.

That all means this tie could come down to the doubles and Spain have an ace up their sleeve for that, as world number one doubles star Marcel Granollers should be able to help steer them to victory.

GB should prove too strong with or without Draper

Great Britain are chasing a place in the knockout stages of the Davis Cup for the second year in a row and they should have no problems easing past Finland in their Group D opener at the AO Arena, Manchester, even if they have to make do without the in-form Draper.

Captain Leon Smith says he will make a late call regarding Draper’s involvement given the quick turnaround from his New York exploits, but if fit, the British number one, who has broken into the world’s top 20 for this first time, should have too much for the best Finland have to offer, likely to be Otto Virtanen.

Should Draper not feature then Dan Evans and Davis Cup debutant Billy Harris will lead the British charge in the singles.

Evans is a proven Davis Cup campaigner, while Harris has enjoyed a breakthrough 2024, moving to the cusp of the world’s top 100.

Whatever line-up GB go with, it should be too strong for Finland, who only have one player in their team currently inside the top 700 of the singles rankings.

This should certainly be a comfortable win for GB in what will be their first Davis Cup tie since Andy Murray’s retirement, and they should wrap things up without the need for the doubles.

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