Defending Davis Cup champion Czech Republic has its hands full in Kazakhstan as they are without top singles player Tomas Berdych and No. 2 player, Radek Stepanek, who just returned following neck surgery, and will not appear on the opening day in singles.
Czech Jan Hajek will open the quarterfinal in Astana against Mikhail Kukushkin, followed by Lukas Rosol against Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev. Despite their low rankings, neither Kukushkin nor Golubev have lost a Davis Cup singles match at home.
Stepanek and Ivo Minar are set to play Evgeny Korolev and Yuriy Schukin in doubles.
"We are coming to Kazakhstan without our first player, but Radek is back in the team and I hope we have enough of a strong team to beat Kazakhstan,” Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil told *DavisCup.com*. “I’ll be happy with 1-1 after tomorrow’s matches.”