Andy Roddick's [ Images ] rare victory over world number one Roger Federer [ Images ] last week has boosted his confidence in time for this weekend's Davis Cup quarter-finals where he will pilot holders the United States against France [ Images ].
Eight of the world's top 10 players will line up for the four ties being played from Friday to Sunday.
The Americans will stick to the familiar line-up of world number six Roddick, world number eight James Blake [ Images ] and the top-ranked doubles partnership of Bob and Mike Bryan [ Images ] for their tie at home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
It is the 10th tie in a row that captain Patrick McEnroe has played the same team that delivered the United States their first Davis Cup in 12 years when they beat Russia [ Images ] in December.
"I'm excited to get out there and try to defend our title," said Roddick, noting the Winston-Salem crowd helped lift the US to a quarter-final victory last year over Spain.
"They're loud, that's for sure. We have a tough opponent in France, and I'm sure they're going to realise that and we'll probably need them," added Roddick, who beat Federer in the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open last week.
France will attempt to dethrone the champions with world number 10 Richard Gasquet, this year's Australian Open [ Images ] finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Paul-Henri Mathieu and doubles dynamo Michael Llodra.
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A confident world number four, Nikolay Davydenko [ Images ], who won his biggest career title in Miami [ Images ], will lead the Russians against the Czech Republic in Moscow [ Images ].
Davydenko will be helped by Dmitry Tursunov [ Images ], Igor Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny, the latter who made headlines in Miami when he repeatedly hit his head with his racket in anger at missing a shot, drawing blood that dripped down his forehead.
The Russians, who have won the Davis Cup title twice in the last seven years, have not lost a home tie since 1998.
Nevertheless, Davydenko, did not sound too confident of breaking Russia's 4-4 standoff with the Czech Republic.
"I don't know if I can play clay court now against Czech Republic because I am feeling good but it's a different surface," Davydenko said after his Miami win.
Miami semi-finalist Tomas Berdych, ranked ninth in the world, will be the principal force behind the Czechs' efforts along with Radek Stepanek, Lukas Dlouhy [ Images ] and Pavel Vizner.
After sitting out the first round, world number two Rafael Nadal [ Images ] returns to spearhead Spain's campaign for a third Davis Cup title, joining number five David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco [ Images ] and Feliciano Lopez [ Images ] for their trip to Germany [ Images ].
"We have a complete team," said Nadal. "So we hope to have the chance to be in the semi-finals and finally play at home after a long time."
The Germans, who lead Spain 9-4 in past Davis Cup meetings, are likely to feel understaffed against Spain without a top 10 player of their own in their team of Philipp Kohlschreiber, Nicolas Kiefer [ Images ], Michael Berrer, and Philipp Petzschner.
In the weekend's other quarter-final, Argentina host Sweden.
Argentina will field a strong team of world number seven David Nalbandian [ Images ], Guillermo Canas [ Images ], Juan Monaco and Jose Acasuso when they host Sweden's team of Robin Soderling [ Images ], Jonas Bjorkman [ Images ], Thomas Johansson and Robert Lindstedt [ Images ].
Sweden captain Mats Wilander knows playing Argentina at home on clay will be a daunting task, telling Reuters: "Argentina are the favourites for sure but I think we have a better chance this time than we did (playing there) in 2006."

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