RICKY’S PREVIEW & PICKS FOR DAVIS CUP TENNIS SEMIFINALS: ARGENTINA VS. GREAT BRITAIN – FIRST MATCH ANDY MURRAY VS. DEL POTRO & FRANCE VS. CROATIA

Written by: Staff on 15th September 2016

RICKY'S PREVIEW & PICKS FOR DAVIS CUP TENNIS SEMIFINALS: ARGENTINA VS. GREAT BRITAIN - FIRST MATCH ANDY MURRAY VS. DEL POTRO & FRANCE VS. CROATIA |

Photo by @guillecapora via Twitter.

By Ricky Dimon

The Grand Slam year has come and gone, but there is plenty more tennis in the cards for 2016 and the home stretch gets going this weekend with the Davis Cup semifinals. It will begin with a bang on Friday, when Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro clash in a rematch of the Rio Olympics gold-medal contest to kick off the Great Britain vs. Argentina tie. On the other side of the bracket, Croatia is hosting France.

Argentina vs. Great Britain

Where: Glasgow, Scotland

Surface: Indoor hard

Argentina: Guido Pella, Juan Martin Del Potro, Leonardo Mayer, Federico Delbonis

Great Britain: Andy Murray, Kyle Edmund, Daniel Evans, Jamie Murray

Get your popcorn ready for Friday, because Murray vs. Del Potro is about as a big as a Davis Cup rubber can get. They may not be anywhere close in terms of ranking (Murray is No. 2 to Del Potro’s 64th), but their recent Olympic tilt resulted in a four-hour thriller and Del Potro parlayed his silver-medal magic into a quarterfinal performance at the U.S. Open as a wild card. Murray’s quarterfinal finish in Flushing Meadows ended with a much different feeling, as the second seed and arguable title favorite was upset in a five-setter against Kei Nishikori.

The British side has been dubbed as a one-man show at times in the past, but Murray should get plenty of help this time around. Both Kyle Edmund (nominated as the second singles player for this semifinal) and Daniel Evans are coming off third-round showings in New York, and Evans even had a match point against eventual champion Stan Wawrinka. Jamie Murray, the older of the two brothers, is the world’s No. 4 doubles player and his recent U.S. Open title (with Bruno Soares) marked his second slam triumph of 2016. With Edmund in fine form and the Murray brothers a force in doubles, the defending Davis Cup champions should be able to blank Argentina unless Del Potro can pull off an upset in the opening rubber.

Prediction: Great Britain 3, Argentina 0 (last two rubbers dead)

France vs. Croatia

Where: Zadar, Croatia

Surface: Indoor hard

France: Richard Gasquet, Lucas Pouille, Nicolas Mahut, Pierre-Hugues Herbert

Croatia: Marin Cilic, Borna Coric, Ivan Dodig, Marin Draganja

Croatia is basically on its second life in the Davis Cup World Group after staging an improbable comeback to beat the United States in the quarters. Team USA had home-court advantage, a 2-0 cushion following the first day, and the Bryan brothers scheduled for Saturday doubles. But Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig downed the Bryans before Cilic and Borna Coric took care of business in singles one day later to cap off the come-from-behind victory. The same foursome is back for the semifinals, although a Cilic-Dodig doubles duo may be unnecessary given that the Croats should not be in another 2-0 hole when they collide with France. In fact, the host nation may be ahead 2-0 after Friday singles. Cilic is a clear favorite against Davis Cup rookie Lucas Pouille, and just about anything could happen in Coric vs. Richard Gasquet given that both have been dealing with injuries.

Official Davis cup dinner last night with all the french team #CROFRA – Photo by @pierrehuguesherbert via Instagram.

“I feel great after a week’s rest followed by five days of intense practice, so I hope we have a great day tomorrow as I am sure our fans will get behind us in full force,” Cilic said at the draw ceremony on Thursday. “I am exceptionally glad that we are playing in Zadar because this is a city with an outstanding sports tradition and it deserves an event of this magnitude. This is the most important match for Croatia since we lifted the trophy in 2005.”

It would behoove Croatia to seize a 2-0 lead heading into Saturday because the Frenchmen will bring Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert to the table in doubles. Mahut and Herbert may not have won the U.S. Open, but they have been the most consistent pairing from start to finish this season and are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 individually in doubles. If Gasquet is truly recovered from a recent back problem and can win at least one of his two singles rubbers, the stage could be set for an intriguing decider between up-and-coming youngsters Coric and Pouille.

Prediction: Croatia 3, France 1 (last rubber dead)