The Davis Cup Finals draw has produced a potential clash between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray when Serbia take on Britain in Malaga.
Britain secured their place in November’s knockout stage by finishing top of qualifying Group B on Sunday night after their thrilling 2-1 win against France.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion, who helped Serbia progress through last week’s group stage Djokovic, has said that the competition is his top priority for the rest of the season.
Serbia finished second behind Czech Republic, but clinched their place in the quarter-finals with a win over Spain.
An image that illustrates this article – Simona Halep in fight to salvage career and legacy as doping saga rumbles on
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Djokovic, who triumphed with Serbia in 2010, beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina just five days after winning the US Open to help his team beat the Spanish 3-0 in Valencia.
Britain captain Leon Smith is confident Britain can mount a serious challenge to repeat their success of 2015 when three-time Grand Slam winner Murray led them to their last Davis Cup win with victory over Belgium in the final.
“We’ve topped this group so we expect to get a kinder draw in the quarter-finals but it’s not panned out that way,” Smith told BBC Sport.
“But you know what, we deserve to be there – and we’ve got a chance against anyone. It doesn’t matter if Novak plays for Serbia, or anything else. You’ve got to win two [singles] rubbers and a doubles and that’s what we’ve proved to be good at.”
Reigning champions Canada, who went through despite the absences of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, will face surprise package Finland, who defeated 32-time champions the United States along the way.
The winners of that meeting will take on either the Czech Republic or Australia in the semi-finals.
Serbia or Britain will play Italy or the Netherlands for a place in the final, with the Italians able to call on world No 7 Jannik Sinner and top-20 player Lorenzo Musetti.
The knockout stage of the competition will be played between November 21 and 26 in Spain.