No place for Corretja in Davis singles

Albert Costa and Juan Carlos Ferrero will lead off Spain's bid for a first Davis Cup title against Australia on Friday after captain Javier Duarte sprang a surprise and left Alex Corretja out of his line-up.

Costa will play the first singles against Australian number one Lleyton Hewitt, with Ferrero up against Patrick Rafter in the second match.

The final, which runs between Friday and Sunday on an indoor clay court at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, will see Spain look to avenge their two Davis Cup final defeats to Australia in 1965 and 1967, both times on grass.

Corretja, Spain's highest-ranked singles player at number eight, will play the doubles alongside Juan Balcells against Mark Woodforde and Sandon Stolle on Saturday.

Corretja could also come in to substitute either Costa or Ferrero in the reverse singles on Sunday and Australian coach John Newcombe said his team would have to be prepared for that.

"You would imagine that Alex would have to play singles at some point," said Newcombe, who as expected opted for his strongest line-up.

"Perhaps the feeling is that he'll come in fresh for the doubles and then play in either the fourth or fifth match on Sunday, depending on the results on the Friday.

"What we have to do is try to ensure the results on Sunday don't matter."

The absence of Corretja in the draw could deprive the tie of the eagerly-awaited match between the Spanish number one and Hewitt.

Corretja added spice to the final while in Lisbon for the Masters Cup as he accused Hewitt of going too far with his on-court antics.