Strong field for France-Spain series

CLERMONT-FERRAND, France, July 8 (UPI) -- Gale Monfils leads a French team into a Davis Cup quarterfinal trying to end the winning streak of two-time defending champion Spain.

The field for both teams, even with world No. 1 Rafael Nadal skipping the event, is one of the strongest in the tournament with the eight players listed for this weekend's best-of-five series all ranked in the top 35.

Monfils, at No. 17, is the highest ranked French player and drew Friday's opening singles match against world No. 12 David Ferrer. Spain sends 10th-ranked Fernando Verdasco against No. 35th-ranked Frenchman Michael Llodra.

The doubles match Saturday pits Spaniards Feliciano Lopez (No. 25) and Verdasco against No. 33 Julien Benneteau and Llodra. Sunday, Monfils is to play Verdasco and Llodra meets Ferrer in reverse singles.

Also on the rosters are Spain's Nicolas Almagro (No. 20) and France's Gilles Simon (No. 34).

The series is to be played on an indoor hard court in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Spain has won five of the six times it has played France in the Davis Cup tournament. The Spaniards own four Davis Cups, all won since 2000. France has won the Davis Cup nine times, most recently in 2001.

The Spain-France winner moves to the tournament semifinals Sept. 17-19 against the winner of a quarterfinal series between Argentina and Russia.