Federer, Nadal Eye Each Other at Hamburg

The Swiss and Spaniard, who have put themselves a level above the other players on the ATP tour for the second consecutive year, eye each other for a potential third consecutive meeting in a claycourt Masters Series final this week at Hamburg.

The Masters Series events bring many of the top players in head-to-head situations from the very start, and Hamburg is no exception with first-round meetings including No. 5 seed James Blake against unseeded former French Open champion Carlos Moya, No. 2 Rafael Nadal against former world No. 2 Tommy Haas, and the world No. 1 Federer against former Top 10er Rainer Schuettler.

Other seeds with tough openers are No. 11 Thomas Johansson against the hot-and-cold Paul-Henri Mathieu, No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko vs. Chilean grinder Nicolas Massu, and No. 14 Robby Ginepri against French veteran Sebastien Grosjean.

Federer's road in Hamburg is not an easy one with either the hot-handed Olivier Rochus or former French winner Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round, then No. 16 David Ferrer or Marat Safin in the third round.

Likely quarterfinal meetings in Hamburg are (1) Federer vs. (8) Robredo, (4) Davydenko vs. your guess of (12) Ancic, Gael "Force" Monfils or Moya, (7) Fernando Gonzalez or (10) Guillermo Coria vs. an unseeded surprise, and (6) Gaston Gaudio vs. (2) Nadal.

In last year's finals Federer topped French qualifier Richard Gasquet 6-3, 7-5, 7-6(4), and in the doubles (2) Bjorkman/Mirnyi came back to beat (8) Llodra/Santoro 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(3).

Seeds in action Monday in Hamburg are Moya vs. (5) Blake, (12) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. (Q) Waske, (3) Ljubicic vs. (Q) Kohlschreiber, (13) Nieminen vs. Sanguinetti, (15) Stepanek vs. Baghdatis, (8) Robredo vs. Novak, (10) Coria vs. (Q) Djokovic, (11) T.Johansson vs. Mathieu, and (16) Ferrer vs. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez.