Nadal leads powerful Spain into Davis Cup

CORDOBA, Spain, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal, who helped Spain to two recent Davis Cup titles, will open for the Spaniards in their Davis Cup semifinal this weekend versus France.

Nadal, ranked No. 2 in the world, will be less than a week removed from a grueling four-set, 4-hour U.S. Open final that he lost to Novak Djokovic. Djokovic was given the first-match assignment for Serbia in its Davis Cup semifinal against Argentina.

The winner of the France-Spain semifinal heads into the Davis Cup title series Dec. 2-4 against either Argentina or Serbia.

The France-Spain best-of-five series is set for an outdoor, clay court in Cordoba, Spain. Spain has won five of its seven previous meetings against the French, although France took a 5-0 decision in the 2010 quarterfinals. Nadal, however, didn't play in that series.

He is to go against 15th-ranked Richard Gasquet in Friday's first match with world No. 5 David Ferrer drawing Gilles Simon, ranked No. 11, in the second match.

Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were paired by French captain Guy Forget for Saturday's doubles match against Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.

Sunday's schedule calls for reverse singles with Nadal meeting Simon and Ferrer playing Gasquet.

Spain has won the Davis Cup four times -- 2000, '04, '08 and '09 -- in recent years and was the 2003 runner-up. France lost to Serbia 3-2 in last year's final but has nine championships, the most recent in 2001.