ZADAR: Richard Gasquet, a late call-up to France's injury-hit Davis Cup team, will be carrying the visitors hopes in their World Group semi-final in Croatia starting Friday.
Gasquet, 30, was not selected by captain Yannick Noah after struggling with back and chest injuries throughout the summer, losing in the first round of the US Open to Britain's Kyle Edmund.
Noah called up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gakl Monfils and Lucas Pouille while the trio were on course for the US Open quarter-finals, along with doubles specialists Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.
But with Tsonga and Monfils both ruled out with knee injuries, Noah called on Gasquet, who will now play the opener against Borna Coric on Friday.
"It was quite unexpected, to say the least," said Gasquet. "It's the charm of the Davis Cup. I wasn't in the team a week ago, and now I find myself playing first on Friday. For sure it's a change!".
Since withdrawing injured from Wimbledon in July, Gasquet has won just three of six matches played, all against players ranked outside the top 50.
"You always feel better when you've reached a quarter-final at the US Open but it's the Davis Cup, I've experience and I know I can have a good match.
"I feel ready. I've done the maximum to make up the delay from the US Open. I've trained a lot. I'm no longer in pain. I'm 100 percent fit. It's up to me to prove it tomorrow."
It will be Gasquet's 20th singles match in the Davis Cup in which he has a 11-8 record, and his first under Noah's captaincy.
His rival Coric is at 19 years one of the rising stars of the game, clinching the decider for Croatia in their two previous rounds against Belgium and the United States.
But the 42nd-ranked Coric is not in his best shape either. After wins over Benont Paire, Nick Kyrgios and Rafael Nadal in Cincinnati, he was forced out of the first round of the US Open with a knee problem.
In Friday's second singles rubber in-form French teenager Pouille, ranked 18, will play 11th-ranked Marin Cilic.
Former US Open champion Cilic won the Cincinnati Masters this summer, beating Andy Murray in the final.
France's world number one-ranked doubles pair Mahut and Herbert play Ivan Dodig and Marin Draganja on Saturday, with Pouille and Gasquet playing Sunday's reverse singles.
The two countries have met once before in 2004, with nine-time Davis Cup champions France winning 4-1 in Metz.
Croatia won the title once in 2005.
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