MONTREAL - Davis Cup captain Martin Laurendeau is confident that Canada will beat Ecuador even without its top two singles players, Milos Raonic and Frank Dancevic.
Both will sit out the Americas Zone Group 1 series in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with injuries.
On Thursday, Tennis Canada announced Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., underwent successful hip surgery Tuesday in Vail, Colo., and is expected to make a full recovery. The sport's governing body in this country added Raonic is already riding a stationary bike and is expected to resume hitting a ball in about six weeks.
Laurendeau feels Canada has enough depth to beat a modest Ecuadorean team that will be without it's long-standing star brothers Nicolas and Giovanni Lapentti
"It's two young teams and it's a great chance for our young guys to step up," Laurendeau said Thursday.
The first match Friday has Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., against Ivan Endara followed by Vancouver's Philip Bester facing Julio Cesar Campozano.
Saturday's doubles match has veteran Daniel Nestor of Toronto and Pospisil against Roberto Quiroz and Emilio Gomez. The two sides switch singles opponents for the fourth and fifth matches Sunday.
It is the second round of Group 1 play. Canada defeated Mexico 4-1 in March, when Raonic went 2-0 in singles and won the doubles with Pospisil.
The winner will advance to the prestigious World Group next year, along with the winner of a series pitting Brazil against Uruguay.
Raonic, who suffered the hip injury at Wimbledon, would have been the only player in the series ranked in the top-100 in the world at No. 26. Dancevic is ranked 146th.
But Canada's players are still much higher-ranked than Ecuador's, with Pospisil 191st, Bester 229th and Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., 259th.
Campozano is 384th, Endara 497th, Quiroz 875th and Gomez 909th in singles.
However, rankings often go out the window when national teams are involved.
"I see it as a difficult tie," added Laurendeau. "It's always tough in South America. It's on slow clay. It's tough weather with a tough crowd."
It will help to have the veteran Nestor, one of the world's top doubles players who has long experience playing before hostile crowds in the Davis Cup.
"I appreciate everything he does for us," said Laurendeau. "He's the French Open champion and never misses a chance to play for us."
Laurendeau said Canada has been improving on clay in recent years, as it's victories over Peru and Mexico in the past two years have shown.
Ecuador beat Canada two years ago on hardcourts in Toronto, but that was with the Lapentti brothers winning at singles.
This weekend also has quarter-final action in the World Group, with Serbia travelling to Sweden, Kazakhstan facing Argentina in Buenas Aires, Spain against the U.S. in Austin, Texas, and France playing Germany in Stuttgart.
