Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick Headline Miami

The Sony Ericsson begins today in Miami. All 32 seeded players received byes into the second round and 19 of the Top 20 players (except No. 13 Ancic) are in this year’s tournament. There are two former tournament champions in the field – World No. 1 Roger Federer, who won the last two years, and No. 3 Andy Roddick, who captured the title in 2004.

Federer will attempt to join Andre Agassi as the only players to win three consecutive titles in Miami. Agassi claimed three straight from 2001-03 and a record six overall.

The 25-year-old Federer has a 12-1 record on the season, winning at the Australian Open and Dubai. His only loss came in the second round (bye) to Guillermo Canas in Indian Wells on Mar. 11. The Swiss superstar has a 25-6 career record in Miami, winning his last 12 matches. He defeated Nadal in five sets two years ago and Ivan Ljubicic last year in three tie-breaks. Federer is five wins away from 500 in his career.

Federer will meet either Igor Andreev or American teenager Sam Querrey in his second round match on Saturday, with No. 29 seed Nicolas Almagro a potential third round opponent. Federer is then seeded to meet either No. 19 Juan Carlos Ferrero or No. 15 Richard Gasquet in the 4th RD. And in the quarterfinals, he could meet No. 6 Tommy Robredo or No. 9 Tommy Haas, the two highest seeds in that section of the draw.

Also in the top half of the draw is No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko, who won his first ATP Masters Series shield in Paris last year, and No. 7 Ljubicic, who reached last year’s final. Davydenko could face No. 14 seed Tomas Berdych in the 4th RD while Ljubicic could meet 2003 Miami finalist, No. 27 Carlos Moya in the third round and last year’s semifinalist, No. 11 David Nalbandian in the fourth round.

In the bottom half of the draw, No. 2 Rafael Nadal, coming off his seventh career ATP Masters Series title in Indian Wells and a finalist in Miami two years ago, will face the winner of Jan Hernych and qualifier Ricardo Mello in his opening round match.

The first seed Nadal could meet is No. 30 Olivier Rochus in the third round and either No. 16 Mikhail Youzhny or No. 17 Marcos Baghdatis in the fourth round. Nadal is 3-3 lifetime against Youzhny and 3-0 against Baghdatis.

A possible quarterfinal opponent includes No. 8 seed James Blake, No. 10/Indian Wells finalist Novak Djokovic, No. 22 Dominik Hrbaty or No. 25 Marat Safin. But Blake and Safin will first meet in the third round if they both win their opening match.

No. 3 Roddick took the title here three years ago and last year he reached the quarters. He has a career record of 15-6 in Miami. Roddick is off to an 18-4 start and he’s looking for his first title of the year. He reached the semifinals in Indian Wells (l. to Nadal).

No. 5 and Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez, a semifinalist in Miami three years ago, could face ’02 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson in the second round and No. 26 seed Jurgen Melzer in the third round. No. 12 Andy Murray and No. 18
Lleyton Hewitt could meet in the third round with the winner taking on Gonzalez in the fourth round.

Five of the six teenagers in the Top 100 ATP Rankings are also in the draw, led by 18- year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, who opens with the oldest player in the singles draw, 34-year-old Jonas Bjorkman (turns 35 Friday). The other talented teenagers are 19-year-olds: No. 10 Djokovic, No. 12 Murray, Sam Querrey, and Evgeny Korolev.