Dan Evans will open Great Britain's Davis Cup tie against the Slovak Republic on Friday in Glasgow.

World number 276 Evans, who is 0-4 in Davis Cup play, will face Lukas Lacko, a player ranked more than 200 places higher, in the first rubber at 1500 GMT. They will be followed onto court at the Braehead Arena by British number two James Ward and Martin Klizan.

Ward is leading the British bid in the absence of Andy Murray, who has been advised to rest following his Australian Open exploits, and a victory for him on Friday is sure to be targeted by the British team.

Scottish star Colin Fleming will link up with regular partner Ross Hutchins for Saturday's doubles rubber. They are due to take on Filip Polasek and Michal Mertinak. The reverse singles will follow on Sunday.

Both Slovak singles players are ranked higher than Great Britain's, so the home side face a tough task on their return to Europe/Africa Zone I - the second tier of the global competition - following last year's promotion.

Leon Smith's side must win to keep their hopes of a return to the World Group in 2013 alive and the captain is not giving up on that hope despite the absence of his star man.

Smith, who coached Murray as a junior, is fully supportive of the 24-year-old's decision, saying: "I'm really in his corner for this one.

"I and the whole of British tennis would want him to win a grand slam and we know how crammed the schedule is, we know what those players feel like at the end of the year so it's important that when he can let himself rest and regenerate and then train up for the rest of the season that he does that.

"He's really positive about playing Davis Cup. I know for a fact that he loved the last two ties, he loved in particular playing in front of his home crowd and being part of a team.

"He gets on great with all the players and the coaching team so he wants to play. If he plays the next one, that would be great.''

While Murray heads off to his training base in the US to work with new coach Ivan Lendl ahead of his next tournament in Dubai later this month, his GB team-mates will be up against it, especially with Lacko in good form having reached the final of the ATP event in Zagreb last week.

Smith knows it's a difficult task.

The Scot, who is unbeaten in four ties, said: "It's a very tough tie and it's going to be difficult because their players are very much in form, especially the number one Lacko, who's had a tremendous start to the year.

"Actually that's good for the crowd to have someone like that coming here, he's a world-class player.

"At this level there are very strong tennis nations with good strength in depth, and it's what we aspire to so it's important that, with or without Andy, we get a chance to play against them.

"Someone who's young like Dan Evans has got to learn, if he's got ambitions to climb up the rankings and be at this level, this is it, this is who he's got to play against, so I think it's a good opportunity.

"Expectations need to be realistic about where we are at this weekend. We can win it but it's going to be very tough. I want the guys to go out very well prepared, know what they're trying to do tactically, execute the best they can and see where it takes us.''

However, Slovak captain Miloslav Mecir, a former Olympic gold medallist, was keen to play down his side's status as favourites, saying: "The match is still to be played, the ball is round and, if we knew who was going to win, we wouldn't have to play.

"Of course the rankings say something, but sometimes a player can have a very good day and a good game, you never know when that is going to be so we have to concentrate on the match and play good quality tennis.''