Davis Cup Lineups: Australia vs. Belgium

Australian brings in the swagger with young talented players and the dogged competitiveness of team captain Lleyton Hewitt. But Belgium is hosting the event on clay, and has an experienced, winning team that has reached the finals for the second time (they lost the cup in 2015 to Great Britain).

Here’s the lineup for both teams and the weekend prediction. Play starts on Friday.

Age: 27

Ranking: No. 12 (doubles No. 569)

Davis Cup Record: 17-3 singles, 0-3 doubles

Season Highlight: He finally arrived in the Top 10 of the rankings in late February behind finalist appearances in Sofia and Rotterdam. Best of all for Belgium, Goffin continues to be a strong winner in Davis Cup play.

Age: 33

Ranking: No. 77 (doubles No. 284)

Davis Cup Record: 21-8 singles, 1-7 doubles

Season Highlight: Darcis is the key to the Belgian squad as the No. 2 singles player. He carried his squad past Germany in the first round in February with an epic five-set thriller over Philipp Kohlschreiber and a four-set comeback win over Alexander Zverev.

Age: 29

Ranking: No. 92 (doubles No. 252)

Davis Cup Record: 4-8 singles, 7-6 doubles

Season Highlight: The veteran primarily plays ATP Challenger events, but he had a great week at Wimbledon with victories over Tommy Haas and Daniil Medvedev.

Age: 29

Ranking: No. 147 (doubles No. 944)

Davis Cup record: 0-1 singles, 0-0 doubles

Season Highlight: A big win in Rio de Janeiro over Pablo Cuevas on clay was important considering that the semifinal will go down on dirt.

Age: 22

Ranking: No. 20 (doubles No. 78)

Davis Cup Record: 7-3 singles, 0-1 doubles

Season Highlight: The explosive young star has dominated his singles Davis Cup matches in 2017, and he defeated Rafael Nadal on his way to the final of Cincinnati.

Age: 23

Ranking: No. 70 (doubles No. 79)

Davis Cup Record: 3-0 singles, 0-0 doubles

Season Highlight: He set the tone for Australia by upsetting America’s Jack Sock in the first round of Davis Cup action. The Aussie then stunned Sock again at the US Open.

Age: 28

Ranking: No. 185  (doubles No. 259)

Davis Cup Record: 0-0 singles, 0-0 doubles

Season Highlight: Replacing Thanasi Kokkiankis at the last minute, Millman has never competed in Davis Cup play before. But, the 28-year-old just enjoyed a third-round run at the US Open, with a win over countryman Kyrgios in the first round.

Age: 29

Ranking: Doubles No. 2 (NR singles)

Davis Cup Record: 0-0 singles, 2-2 doubles

Season Highlight: The home-crowd favorite won the Australian Open doubles title with Henri Kontinen. He also added his 13th career doubles crown in Washington (also with Kontinen).

The weekend's semifinal could go either way. Kyrgios will win if he plays his best, but the clay-court surface blunts his power. Goffin and Darcis are more comfortable on clay and their Davis Cup experience in front of the home crowd could give them the decisive edge.

The doubles lineup could change but Thompson and Peers are the favorites over Bemelmans and De Greef. Will Darcis have to play the hero again? Will Millman be able to contribute in the reverse singles? Stay tuned.

Prediction: A slight edge and 3-2 victory for Belgium.