Rafael Nadal Out Front at ATP Masters-Series Madrid

Now the favored status falls to No. 2-ranked Spaniard Rafael Nadal, whose 2005 hardcourt resume includes titles at the Masters Series-Canada and Beijing, and a runner-up effort at the Masters Series-Miami where he led Federer two sets to none in the best-of-five final before the Swiss pulled a rabbit out of his hat.

A title at Madrid would pull Nadal level with Federer at 11 titles on the year, though the Swiss has already secured the year-end No. 1 ranking.

Joining Nadal among the Top 8 seeds at Madrid are Andy Roddick, Nikolay Davydenko, Guillermo Coria, David Nalbandian, Mariano Puerta, Gaston Gaudio and Ivan Ljubicic.

Roddick hasn't competed at an ATP event since his shocking first-round exit at the US Open in August, while Nadal's last hardcourt event was his title at Beijing.

The No. 8-seeded Ljubicic will be especially dangerous after a restful first-round bye, allotted to all 16 seeds, with the Croat coming off consecutive title runs at Metz and Vienna. An opening-round win would likely match the bald-pated Ljubicic with countryman and No. 12 seed Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic in the third round.

Other potential opening-round matches of note for the seeds are (13) Tommy Robredo vs. Carlos Moya in an all-Spanish, (10) Radek Stepanek vs. the winner of Tim Henman-Taylor Dent, (3) Nikolay Davydenko vs. the hot-handed Nicolas Kiefer, (16) Robby Ginepri vs. the winner of Sebastien Grosjean and Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, (11) Dave Ferrer vs. (WC) Al Costa in an all-Spanish, (6) Mariano Puerta vs. the winner of Max "The Beast" Mirnyi and Juan Carlos Ferrero, (12) Ancic vs. Tomas Berdych, (15) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez vs. the winner of Paul-Henri Mathieu and (WC) Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco, (4) Guillermo Coria vs. Gael "Force" Monfils, (9) Thomas Johansson vs. 2004 Olympic winner Nicolas Massu, (14) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. the winner of Tommy Haas and Andrei Pavel, and (2) Roddick vs. "Grinning" Greg Rusedski.

Ferrero (2003) is the only returning champion in the field.

The seeds in the formerly-cancelled doubles draw are (1) Bryan-Bryan, (2) Black-Ullyett, (3) Knowles-Nestor, and (4) Llodra-Santoro, with unseeded standouts Lopez-Nadal, Gaudio-Puerta, and Roddick-James Blake.