Australia will meet Belgium away in the first round of the 2007 Davis Cup.

Australia and Belgium last met in Perth in 1991, also in the first round, with Australia's Richard Fromberg, Wally Masur, Darren Cahill and Todd Woodbridge, in his Davis Cup debut, achieving a 5-0 victory.

Australia's Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald said the Belgians were a quality group of players.

"The Rochus brothers (Olivier and Christophe), Kristof Vliegen and Xavier Malisse are all in the top 100 so they will not be easy to beat at home.

"We have been very lucky to have had a lot of ties at home over the past five years, so we are prepared for tough away ties over the next few years," said Fitzgerald.

Belgium returns to the Davis Cup World Group after a three-year absence following a stunning 3-2 victory over the Slovak Republic in the World Group Play-off tie in Bratislava over the weekend.

Australia is seeded No.5 in the World Group for 2007, and is also at number five in the current Davis Cup rankings, after Croatia, Russia, Argentina and Spain.

The draw produced a potential showdown between Swiss world number one Roger Federer and his closest rival Rafael Nadal of Spain.

Switzerland won home advantage in the first-round draw and are likely to opt for a fast court to counteract the claycourt supremacy of the Spanish and particularly Nadal, who has not been beaten on the surface since April 2005.

Spain have met Switzerland four times in Davis Cup play and hold a 3-1 lead, but all the encounters were before the era of the Federer-Nadal rivalry.

"It is obviously a tough draw but I am sure Switzerland will also be thinking they are unlucky to have drawn the worst possible rival as well," the president of the Spanish tennis federation Pedro Munoz told Spanish media.

"With the spirit we now have in this team I am confident we can beat whoever we play, wherever it may be," Munoz added.

Argentina, who play Russia in December's 2006 final, have been drawn to play Austria away.

Since they returned to the World Group in 2002 Argentina have reached at least the quarter-finals every year but their only other final appearance came back in 1981.

Russia, who won the title in 2002, have a tough draw with a trip to Chile.

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