Davis Cup 2016: Georgian tennis stars face Danish players at Tbilisi’s new Sports Palace

Tbilisi's new Sports Palace will host the world cup of tennis over three days starting this Friday, where local talent will face a visiting team from Denmark in the prestigious Davis Cup competition.

Singles matches between the teams will take place over two days on March 4 and 6 while a doubles fixture will be held on March 5.

Georgia will be represented in by world number 118 Nikoloz Basilashvili (the country’s top ranked singles player) and players George Tsivadze, Giorgi Javakhishvili and Irakli Metreveli.

The Georgian team will be led by world number 118 Nikoloz Basilashvili. Photo by Tamuna Kulumbegashvili/Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia.

Basilashvili already has experience of top level tournaments under his belt after playing against tennis legend Roger Federer in the first round of the Australian Open in January 2016.

Meanwhile for Metreveli the fixture against Denmark will be his Davis Cup debut.

This year the Georgian team will play in Group II following its promotion up a level after its success as last year’s tournament where the Georgian side defeated four teams in their former Group III. 

Georgia and Denmark will face each other in one of eight matches between 16 teams in the first round. The winning team will face either Zimbabwe or Finland in the tournament's second round.

Georgia is one of 16 teams in Group II of the Europe/Africa division of this year's Davis Cup. The two best teams of Group II will be revealed after three rounds of matches. The top two teams will then be promoted to Group I for the 2017 Davis Cup.

The best teams of Group I reach the World Group Play-Offs of the tournament, which in turn determines the final World Group composition for the ultimate Davis Cup victory.

More than 120 nations were represented in last year's competition.

The three Georgia-Denmark games will be played at Tbilisi's new Sports Palace, which opened in July last year for the 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival.

Details of the match between Georgia and Denmark can be found on the official Davis Cup website here, while the full list of Group II fixtures can be viewed here.