Australia’s top two men, Bernard Tomic and Matt Ebden, will lead Australia in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Second Round Asia/Oceania Zone Group I tie against Korea which will be held at the Queensland Tennis Centre, Brisbane, on the 6-8 April, 2012.
Marinko Matosevic, fresh from reaching his first ATP final in the US, has been named in the team for the second time and big-serving Chris Guccione steps up for his thirteenth Davis Cup appearance.
Nineteen-year-old Queenslander Ben Mitchell has also been named in the squad. A member of the AIS Pro Tour Program, Mitchell reached a career high ranking of 209 in January, on the back of nine finals appearances and four titles on the ITF circuit in 2011.
“We’ve put together our best possible team to get over Korea and through to a World Group Play-off in September,” Australia’s Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter said today.
“We are all passionate about getting back into the world group and believe we deserve to be there. “Bernard has had a solid start to the year and should be pretty tough to beat on the hard courts here.
“Matt’s achieved some of the best wins of his career in the past couple of weeks and this tie in Brisbane, where he’s already enjoyed some success, is his chance to really step up and take responsibility as a key member of the team.
“It was great to see Marinko go all the way through to the final in Delray Beach a couple of weeks ago – he’s continuing to improve and has great potential, and Gooch will be our elder statesman for the tie. “Ben Mitchell is also in the squad. He’s consistently improving and it’s an important part in the development of our young players to experience our team environment.
“We are all completely focussed on getting back into the world group and this team gives us the best opportunity to get the job done. Of course it’s great to be in Brisbane at the Queensland Tennis Centre and we are all looking forward to great support from the locals.”
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