Two heavyweights of the Davis Cup – Switzerland and defending champions – Czech Republic are all set lock horns today, for a place in the second round of the prestigious team event. Despite being without talisman – Roger Federer, Switzerland will be hoping to wipe off the bad memories of the event last year, when they were demolished in the first round at home by the Americans.

The hosts – Switzerland have this time elected to play on indoor hard courts, after failing miserably on clay last year. The Swiss will be hoping that former Olympic Gold Medalist – Stanislas Wawrinka can inspire his team mates to pull off an unlikely win against their more accomplished opponents.

Wawrinka had put in an unbelievable show up against Novak Djokovic at the recently concluded Australian Open and came closest to beating the Serb. That performance would have given him immense confidence, and being the main man for Switzerland now would also be another responsibility that he would love to have.

At the other end of the court, the Czech Republic team will be full of confidence coming into this year’s Davis Cup. The Czech’s were simply superb in their performance last year, and need to continue this run of good form, having the likes of Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych in their team for this first round clash would definitely bolster their chances.

Both Tomas and Radek are proud men, and if they make the mistake of thinking that they’ll win just by showing up, it could come back and bite them.

Fixtures List:

Stanislas Wawrinka vs Lukas Rosol

Henri Laaksonen vs Tomas Berdych

Doubles: Marco Chiudinelli/Stanislas Wawrinka vs Ivo Minar/Jiri Vesely

Stanislas Wawrinka vs Tomas Berdych

Henri Laaksonen vs Lukas Rosol

TennisEarth Pick: The Czech to triumph 4-1 in this one.