Davydenko leads Russia into Davis Cup

The Argentines head to Moscow for the best-of-five series Friday-Sunday on an indoor hard court. The winner of the series goes into the Davis Cup semifinals in September against either France or Spain.

Davydenko, No. 6 in the world, is to play David Nalbandian in Friday's first match. Nalbandian is ranked 153rd but that's because his play the last year has been limited by injury.

Friday's second singles match has Youzhny, ranked 14th, going against 58th-ranked Leonardo Mayer.

They would switch opponents for Sunday's reverse singles after Saturday's doubles match between Argentines Nalbandian and Horacio Zeballos and Russians Teimuraz Gabashvili and Igor Kunitsyn.

Russia has won three of the five times it has played Argentina in Davis Cup competition. That includes a 2006 win in the tournament finals for Russia's second Davis Cup title. Argentina's is a three-time runner-up but never a Davis Cup champion.

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