Spain’s Carreño, Frenchman Paire to kick off Davis Cup semifinal

Lille: Debutant Benoit Paire of France and Spain's Pablo Carreño are set to kick off the Davis Cup semifinal clash to be held on the Pierre Mauroy stadium's indoor hard court in the northern French city of Lille, after the draw made on Thursday.

The semifinal tie between Spain and holder France is set to get underway on Friday with two singles rubbers as Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut is to take on Frenchman Lucas Pouille after the Carreño-Paire clash, reports Efe news.

On Saturday, the French duo of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut is set to square off against the Spanish pair of Feliciano Lopez and Marcel Granollers.

If neither team is unable to seal the win at that point, the tie will continue on Sunday as Pouille is scheduled to face Carreño and if necessary, Paire will play Bautista Agut.

The Spanish team captain Sergi Bruguera and his counterpart in the French team Yannick Noah can make changes until one hour before each rubber.

The winner of this tie will take on the victor of the other semifinal duel that pits Croatia vs. the United States.

The final is scheduled for November 23-25.

Heading into the semifinal clash, Spain leads France 6-2 in their previous Davis Cup meetings, with the only two French victories coming on home soil in 1923 and 2010.

Having won the most recent Davis Cup clash held in 2011, Spain heads to this tie without injured Rafael Nadal, world No. 1.

Nadal was forced to withdraw from the US Open semifinal clash against Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro due to a knee injury. IANS