Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal in Action Wednesday in Dubai

Second round play begins on Wednesday in Dubai, led by top seed/World No. 1 Roger Federer, No. 2 and defending champion Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko. Other seeds trying to reach the quarterfinals are No. 5 Tommy Haas, No. 6 Tomas Berdych and No. 7 Novak Djokovic.

Leading off the Centre Court schedule for the second straight day is Frenchman Gilles Simon, who plays countryman Fabrice Santoro for the first time. Simon recently captured his first career ATP title in Marseille and Santoro captured the title in Dubai in 2002 (d. El Ayanoui) and was runner-up in 1993 (l. to Novacek).

In the second match, Haas plays another Frenchman, Florent Serra, for the first time. Haas, who is playing in Dubai for the first time, is off to a career-best 15-2 start. The 28-year-old German is coming off his 11th career ATP title in Memphis on Sunday. Serra is trying to reach his first ATP quarterfinal of the year.

In the evening session, Federer takes his career-best 37-match winning streak (see below) into the second round against Daniele Bracciali of Italy. The 25-year-old Swiss superstar is nine wins away from tying Guillermo Vilas for the longest match winning streak in the Open Era. Vilas won 46 straight matches in 1977.

Federer, who captured the Dubai title three straight times from 2003-05 before losing in last year’s final (l. to Nadal), has a 21-2 career record in the desert. He opened the season by winning his 10th career Grand Slam title at the Australian Open and this week he is at a record 161st consecutive week at No. 1.

In the final match, Nadal takes on Russian Igor Andreev, who is the last player to defeat the Spaniard on clay in the quarterfinals of Valencia in April 2005. Since that loss, Nadal has won an all-time record 62 consecutive matches on clay. The 20-year-old Spaniard is 8-3 on the season and he is trying to reach his first final since Wimbledon last July. His last title came at Roland Garros in June.

In Court 1 action, Dominik Hrbaty is 3-0 lifetime against Robin Soderling. In the following match, Berdych and Rotterdam champion Mikhail Youzhny meet for the fifth time (tied 2-2) and second week in a row. Last week in Rotterdam Youzhny defeated the Czech Republic No. 1 in three sets in the first round. In the final match, Davydenko takes a 3-0 career mark in ATP matches against Belgian Olivier Rochus.

In the lone Court 3 singles match, the youngest player in the Top 20, Djokovic, plays German qualifier Rainer Schuettler for the first time. The 19-year-old Serb enters with a 12-3 match record and he won his third career ATP title in Adelaide to begin the season.