Davis Cup 2015 final: Ghent to host Belgium vs Great Britain clash on clay

Ghent's Flanders Expo will host Great Britain's attempt to win their first Davis Cup title for 79 years against Belgium, the International Tennis Federation have confirmed. The 13,000-capacity indoor venue will hold the tie on clay between 27-29 November.

The Belgium team, featuring in their first Davis Cup final for 111 years, have played four of their last six home ties on clay but the surface has been primarily chosen to nullify the threat of world number three Andy Murray. The British number one could now withdraw from the ATP World Tour Finals in London, taking place the week before, in order to prepare for the tie on his weakest surface. Murray reacted to the decision by writing on Twitter: "So Ghent on the Clay for the Davis cup final...very pumped! Think clay is a good surface for us looking forward to it."

Leon Smith's team have benefited from their entire run to the final being played exclusively at home, with ties against United States and Australia hosted in Glasgow, while the quarter-final win over France was played at Queen's. Britain last played a tie on clay in their run to the last eight in 2014, where they were defeated 3-2 by Italy in Naples. GB did, however, beat USA on the surface earlier in the year in San Diego.

"Ghent will fully support the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final," Tennis Vlaanderen president Dirk de Maeseneer said. "As the third biggest city in Belgium, it has a lot of experience in hosting top international events, such as the Tour of Flanders, the arrival of the Tour de France in 2007 and the Gymnastics World Championships in 2001 and 2013.

"The matches will take place in Hall 1, the largest hall of Flanders Expo," he added. "In addition, it also contains seven adjoining halls available for a Tennis Village for the fans, VIP hospitality, media centre, officials, team lounges, organisation and so on. A stand will be set up with a capacity of 13,000 seats.

Belgium's Davis Cup captain Johan Van Herck added: "We Belgians have the home advantage. With the choice of the surface, a thrilling crowd and players who make up their program in function of this Davis Cup final, we have three major trump cards. In our last match we saw what we can do as a team. Let me be clear: we have a very strong team and will go all out for victory and the Davis Cup."

Tickets for the final are available from 2 October, but British fans will be entitled to just 1,300 of the allocated seats, with host nations only obligated to sell 10% of the total capacity to the visiting team. The Emirates Arena, which hosted the tie against Australia, has a capacity of 8,200, while Queen's can hold 6,858 supporters.