SYDNEY -- Sweden made an unexpected late change to their Davis Cup lineup to play Australia in the world group semifinals by naming doubles specialist Jonas Bjorkman as one of their two singles players on Thursday.

Bjorkman was chosen as Sweden's second singles player despite the availability of former Australian Open finalist Thomas Enqvist, who is ranked 24 places higher.

Sweden's non-playing captain, Carl-Axel Hageskog, said Bjorkman won the spot because of his outstanding record in Davis Cup and his familiarity with the Australian players.

"We only decided this morning to do it. It's tough because we had to choose between some very good players, but at this (moment), we felt Jonas was playing well in practice," Hageskog said.

Bjorkman, who also was named in the doubles, could not have a tougher draw after his surprise inclusion in the singles. He will take on U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt in Friday's second singles.

He then will team up with Magnus Larsson against Wayne Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge in Saturday's doubles before facing Wimbledon finalist Pat Rafter in Sunday's reverse singles.

Enqvist, a finalist at the 1999 Australian Open, was clearly disappointed at his omission but tried to put on a brave face when the announcement was public at the official draw inside Sydney's Opera House.

"To be part of a team you have to respect your captain's decision," Enqvist said. "My job now is to support my friends and my team mates and do my best on the bench."

Bjorkman has not played Davis Cup singles since 1998. He is ranked 58th in the world but knows the Australian players very well. He and Woodbridge are co-ranked as the world's best doubles team and the lanky Swede also won the 1999 Australian Open doubles with Rafter.

"I think my strength is that I know most of the guys in their team pretty well, but you also have to look at the other side -- they know me pretty good as well," Bjorkman said.

There were no surprises with the other selections, with Swedish No. 1 Thomas Johansson chosen to play Rafter in Friday's opening match before taking on Hewitt in Sunday's reverse singles.

Australian captain John Fitzgerald said he was surprised by Sweden's decision to overlook Enqvist but hinted he may have a surprise or two himself.

He said that while Arthurs and Woodbridge were named as the preferred doubles pairing, the Australians might instead switch to Rafter and Hewitt, or any combination of the four.

"We have a lot of combinations and that gives us a bit of fire power for the middle day," Fitzgerald said. "We can play our cards tightly to our chest and wait for the right time to make the decision."

The winner of this weekend's tie will host this year's Davis Cup final against either France or the Netherlands.

Australia, champion in 1999 and a finalist a year ago, is a strong favorite on account of Hewitt and Rafter, two of the form players in the game.

The Australians have made no secret of their wish to win it for Rafter. The double U.S. Open champion missed the 1999 victory after undergoing shoulder surgery and is desperate to share in a Davis Cup win before he hangs up his racket at the end of the year.

"That's all nice but this is a team effort," Rafter said. "If we want to win we have to do it as a team."

While the sentimentalists will focus on Rafter, most eyes will be on Hewitt following his astonishing win in the recent U.S. Open final against Pete Sampras.

He has been notable by his absence at this week's pre-Davis Cup media events but looked comfortable being back in the spotlight Thursday.

Expectations are high for the world No. 3 but Hewitt said he was unfazed by the weight of expectation on him.

"There's not much I can do about it, I guess that's what comes with winning grand slams," he said.

"I just don't want anything to slip up now that I've won a big tournament."