Jacksonville, FL – The 2013 opening-round Davis Cup tie between the host United States and Brazil will commence Friday with a singles rubber between Sam Querrey and Thomaz Bellucci.
Querrey-Bellucci will be followed Friday by a match between 6-foot-9 John Isner and Thiago Alves. Isner has been nursing a sore knee, which prevented him from playing at the Australian Open this month.
Saturday's doubles in Florida will pit the mighty Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, against a Brazilian duo of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares, while Sunday's reverse singles call for Isner to tangle with Bellucci and the 20th-ranked Querrey to lock horns with Alves on the indoor hardcourt at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. The twin Bryans captured a men's-record 13th doubles Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last week.
The world No. 16 Isner is 5-5 in his career Davis Cup singles -- all on clay and all on the road. Friday will mark his first-ever home Davis Cup rubber. Querrey, meanwhile, is just 1-5 in his Davis Cup singles, and just like his towering compatriot Isner, he's never played a home rubber.
Team USA is captained by former world No. 1 star Jim Courier, while the Brazilians are guided by Joao Zwetsch.
The Americans are 3-1 all-time versus Brazil, with their last meeting coming in 1997 when the visiting U.S. won a first-round matchup 4-1 in Ribeirao Preto. The two nations first met in 1932, and the Brazilians haven't beaten the Americans since 1966.
The 32-time champion U.S. lost to the mighty Spaniards in a semifinal in Gijon, Spain last year.
The USA-Brazil winner will meet the Serbia-Belgium victor in a quarterfinal in April.
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