GENT (Belgium): Unheralded British tennis player Kyle Edmund will make his Davis Cup debut in the final on Friday when he faces Belgian number one David Goffin in the opening rubber of the team contest.

The 20-year-old, ranked just 100th in the world, will join an elite group of players — including John McEnroe and Pete Sampras — to make their debuts in a final.

World number two Andy Murray, leading Britain’s bid for its first title in 79 years, will face off against Ruben Bemelmans in the second rubber of the best-of-five contest.

Murray opens against Bemelmans

Murray will then link up with brother Jamie for to face Steve Darcis and Kimmer Coppelmans in doubles on the Belgian clay on Saturday.

For the reverse singles on Sunday, Murray will take on Goffin in a battle of the two top players with Bemelmans against Edmund to follow.

Captains can change their picks with Belgium’s Johan van Herck indicating that he could take advantage of that option.

“The weekend will be long. I think we took the best decision and we’ll see who will play Saturday and Sunday,” van Herck said.

Britain are seeking a 10th Davis cup title, but have not won one since 1936 when Fred Perry ruled the roost.

Belgium, meanwhile, are after their first win, having last reached the final in 1904 when they lost to what was then the British Isles.

The central figure in the Friday to Sunday clash at the 13,000-capacity Flanders Expo is undoubtedly British number one Murray.

Ranked second in the world, he has been the inspiration behind his country reaching the Davis Cup final for the first time since 1978, winning all eight rubbers he has played — six singles and two doubles — against heavyweights United States, France and Australia.

Should he win both his singles — as he is heavily favoured to do — he would be just the third player after John McEnroe and Mats Wilander to win all eight Davis Cup singles matches in the same year.

Roger Federer, who won the trophy for the first time last year for Switzerland, believes Murray will decide the tie.

“Britain are the favourites, in my opinion, because they have Andy in the team,” he said.

The Swiss maestro, however, believes Belgium should not be dismissed, especially with world number 16 David Goffin in their ranks.

“Belgium are at home. I really like Goffin, a great player. Good attitude. I feel like he’s the kind of guy that can handle pressure,” he said.

Ranked 16th in the world, Goffin recently felt the full force of the Murray firepower, winning just one game as he lost in straight sets in under an hour at the Paris Masters.

It was, he said, a chastening experience, but one which he said he has fully put out of his mind.

“I think the day I played Andy in [Paris] Bercy, it was just a day off for me. I didn’t play really well. But Andy was really aggressive. He played an unbelievable match there,” he said.

“The conditions here, it’s a completely different match, another surface. I just have to forget this match and to think about the matches of this weekend.”

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2015