Porec, Croatia -- (Sports Network) - James Blake has been selected to start play for the United States' Davis Cup quarterfinal tie against Croatia and will take on big-serving Ivo Karlovic in the first of Friday's singles matches.
Following the Blake/Karlovic match, Mardy Fish will take the court for the Americans against Marin Cilic.
Doubles action set for Saturday on the indoor red clay court of the Zatika Sports Hall will feature Americans Mike and Bob Bryan against Karlovic and Lovro Zovko.
Reverse singles play on Sunday is set to feature Blake against Cilic and Fish versus Karlovic.
Blake, ranked 17th in the world, has a career Davis Cup singles record of 18-9, including a mark of 1-1 in the Americans' first-round victory over Switzerland.
Karlovic, who most recently reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, is 5-5 in Davis Cup singles play.
Fish was a late addition to the American squad after Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick pulled out because of a hip injury. He did not play in the opening Davis Cup victory against the Swiss and owns a singles record of 4-4. His last singles action in Davis Cup play came back in the 2004 final against Spain.
Cilic is the highest ranked player in the tie at No. 15. He is 3-4 in singles Davis Cup play, including a victory in his lone match of Croatia's 5-0 win over Chile in the first round this year.
The Bryan brothers have been dominant in Davis Cup play with an outstanding record of 16-2. That includes a 7-0 mark on clay.
This will be the third meeting between the United States and Croatia, which leads the all-time series 2-0. The Croats topped the U.S., 3-2, in their last meeting, a first-round tilt in Carson, California four years ago.
Croatia also beat the U.S. in the 2003 World Group first round, winning 4-1 in Zagreb. Croatia is the only country the United States has not beaten and also the only country to have a winning record against the U.S., which has 32 Davis Cup titles. A win this weekend would put the Americans into the semifinals for the fourth straight year.
The USA-Croatia winner will face either Argentina or the Czech Republic in the semifinals in September.
