China's Li Zhe (left) and Gong Maoxin (second left) shake hands with Australia's Lleyton Hewitt (right) and Chris Guccione. They will meet in the opening doubles match in the Davis Cup in Beijing tomorrow.

Rising star Bernard Tomic will play China's Zhang Ze in the Davis Cup today as heavily favored Australia aims to move closer to a return to the top level of the tournament.

Australia elected to go with Tomic and Marinko Matosevic for the opening singles matches, leaving former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt to contest the doubles.

The 18-year-old Tomic leaped from 158th in the world to a career-high 71st after he reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, becoming the youngest man to advance that far since Boris Becker in 1986.

Bosnia-Herzegovina-born Matosevic will play his first Davis Cup match for Australia when he faces Wu Di in the opening match of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I second-round tie. A win over China will advance Australia to September's World Group playoffs.

Hewitt and big-serving Chris Guccione are to face the Chinese pair of Gong Maoxin and Li Zhe tomorrow in doubles, with reverse singles on Sunday. Hewitt, the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon champion, was left out of the singles to avoid putting strain on a long-standing foot injury, said Australia captain Patrick Rafter.

"We want to make sure he's right for the doubles and he's got a big season ahead of him," Rafter said. After the Davis Cup, Hewitt plans to head to the United States to prepare for the US Open in August with four warm-up tournaments. "Marinko has been training very hard and we have a lot of confidence," Rafter said.

Hewitt has been the mainstay of Australia's Davis Cup team for more than a decade but a series of injuries and early tournament exits mean he has slipped to 173 in the latest world rankings, below Tomic and Matosevic. He lost in five sets to Sweden's Robin Soderling in the second round of Wimbledon after having held a two-set lead.