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Maria S. Topalova

    Grigor Dimitrov will open the tournament between the teams of Bulgaria and Greece at 1:00 pm tomorrow at Helioupolis tennis courts. The number 15 in the world will face Markos Kalovelonis, number 690 in the world rankings. "I have not played against such a good player. Dimitrov is among the best players on the planet but I will do my best. I believe that we have a chance to win in the other two singles matches. I hope the people will come to the stands to support us," Markos Kalovelonis commented immediately after the draw.

    As a rule, in the Davis Cup, the best player of the first team plays against the second player of the opposing team and vice versa. So, Greece’s best player Theodoros Angelinos, number 280 in the world ranking and Dimitar Kutrovsky, number 344, will play against each other on the first day of the tournament, after Grigor and Markos.
    The doubles match will be on the second day of the tournament, namely at 2:00 pm on Saturday, 5 April. Grigor Dimitrov and Dimitar Kutrovsky will compete for Bulgaria and Alexandros Jakupovic, number 503 in the world and Charalampos Kapogiannis, number 949, for Greece. "For us the match against Grigor is a lost point, which is why I have preferred Markos for the first game. Alexandros is better for the doubles matches and I prefer him to do his best in them. The doubles match will decide who will be the winner in this extremely difficult tournament," said captain of the Greek team George Kalovelonis.

    To my question as to whether he expects a 5:0, 4:1 or 3:2 win over the Greek team, Grigor Dimitrov chose to be diplomatic, "It is too early to talk about the result. The matches will start tomorrow. So I am not going to say any figures. We are here to compete and to win. Let the better party win. We are in a good mood, we like the weather and the courts. Let the game begin!"
    The regulations allow the captains to change the players for the third day of the tournament, Sunday, 6 April. Then the matches will start at 10:00 am again involving Grigor but this time he will play against Theodoros Angelinos. Kalovelonis and Kutrovsky will play after them. "By Sunday I may change both our players," said Greek captain George Kalovelonis.

Here you can watch part of Grigor Dimitrov's training session on Helioupolis clay courts today in Athens:

Here is the draw for the order of the matches: