Tie: Serbia v Russia
Date: 3 to 5 February
Tie Time
Day 1 - 10pm SGT/7:30pm IST/2pm GMT
Day 2 - 11pm SGT/8:30pm IST/3pm GMT
Day 3 - 9pm SGT/6:30pm IST/1pm GMT
Competition: Davis Cup, World Group Round 1
Venue: Cair Sports Center, Nis, Serbia
TV Channel: StarHub Channel 201 will provide live TV coverage in Singapore.
Live streaming: The matches can be watched online at Tennis Channel Plus. Davis Cup TV
Live updates will be available on tournament's official Twitter handle.
Overview
Novak Djokovic is the only top-10 player featuring in the ongoing opening round of Davis Cup World Group stage. The world number two will be leading Serbia's campaign along with Viktor Troicki, Dusan Lajovic and new player-coach Nenad Zimonjic.
Notably, the Serb, who lost his top spot in tennis rankings to Andy Murray late last year, suffered a shocking second-round defeat to unseeded Uzbek Denis Istomin. A lot will depend on Djokovic for Serbia, who have reached the World Group after beating Kazakhstan in a World Group playoff earlier. A strong start from the 12-time Grand Slam champion will help them ease into the quarter-final, where they will play either Spain or Croatia.
Troicki, world number 37, will open the campaign for Serbia against 20-year-old Russian singles player Karen Khachanov in the first singles rubber on Friday while Djokovic faces world number 63 Daniil Medvedev. Troicki and Zimonjic will play the only doubles rubber on Saturday and the reverse singles rubbers will be played on Sunday.
Despite being the favourites Djokovic believes that he and his teammates have to be at their best and said that they are not going to underestimate the relatively young Russian unit.
"Russia are a young, motivated team and we must not underestimate them under any circumstances," Djokovic said, as quoted by the Times of India.
TV Schedule
Singapore: Hub Sports 1
Team News
Serbia: Novak Djokovic (MS -2), Viktor Troicki (MS - 37, MD - 75), Dusan Lajovic (MD - 169), Nenad Zimonjic (MD - 52)
Russia: Karen Khachanov (MS - 52), Daniil Medvedev (MS - 63), Andrey Kuznetsov (MD - 187), Konstantin Kravchuk (MD - 146)
Match schedule
Rubber 1
Troicki v Khachanov
Rubber 2
Djokovic v Medvedev
Rubber 3
Troicki/Zimonjic v Kravchuk/Kuznetsov
Rubber 4
Djokovic v Khachanov
Rubber 5
Troicki v Medvedev
