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Toronto - World No 16 Milos Raonic will lead Canada against Italy in next week's quarter-final tie in Vancouver, Tennis Canada announced on Tuesday.
Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau also named Frank Dancevic, Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil to the squad that will face the Italians for the first time on an indoor hardcourt in Vancouver on April 5-7.
Italy's line-up will include 19th-ranked Andreas Seppi, the second-ranked doubles duo of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini and 59th-ranked Paolo Lorenzi. Fognini is ranked 36th in singles as well.
Raonic reached the fourth round at the Australian Open and won his third consecutive ATP San Jose title last month.
Canada defeated Spain in the opening round to reach the last eight for the first time while the Italians have not advanced this far since finishing as runners-up in 1998.
"Any team that reaches the final eight in Davis Cup competition is going to be a very tough group of players," Laurendeau said. "We are still on a high from making history in February and we want to ride that momentum, take advantage of this opportunity and keep this going into the semi-finals."
The Italy-Canada winner will face either Serbia or the United States in September in the semi-finals.
