Thu Apr 10 10:33:11 2008

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Nadal will open for Spain against host Germany

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Bremen, Germany (Sports Network) - French Open champion Rafael Nadal will be first up for Spain on Friday, as the Spaniards and host Germans do battle in a best-of-five Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal this weekend.

Nadal will face Nicolas Kiefer in the opening singles rubber, while the second bout of the day will pit Masters Cup runner-up David Ferrer against German Philipp Kohlschreiber on an indoor hardcourt at AWD Dome.

Saturday's doubles rubber will pit a Spanish tandem of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco versus a German duo of Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner, while Sunday's reverse singles currently call for Nadal to meet Kohlschreiber and Ferrer to battle Kiefer.

Spain is captained by Emilio Sanchez, while the Germans are piloted by Patrik Kuhnen, who also had Michael Berrer at his disposal this week.

Three-time champion Germany is 9-4 all-time versus two-time titlist Spain, which has won two of the last three meetings in this series.

The Spain-Germany victor will meet the France-USA winner in the semifinals in September.