Federer Seeks Revenge v. Canas; Nadal Meets Murray at Madrid Tennis Masters

The Top 3 players in the South African Airways ATP Rankings - Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic - lead the way into the third round of the Mutua Madrilena Masters in Madrid on Thursday. All three have qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, and seven of the 13 players left in the draw are in contention to secure a spot in the elite year-end championship in Shanghai next month.

Federer meets foe Guillermo Canas, who beat the Swiss twice this year on hard courts. Nadal has an equally tough test against Andy Murray. Djokovic will have to fight Spanish hope Juan Carlos Ferrero. Also on the schedule is the sruging Ivo Karlovic, who'll meet Nicholas Kiefer.

FEDERER FASTFACTS
Has won 39 consecutive matches against Americans since his only loss to Andy Roddick in the semifinals of AMS Canada on Aug. 9, 2003.

Has advanced to a record 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals (8-2) since 2005 Wimbledon and his only losses came at Roland Garros (to Nadal) the last two years in the final.

Set the all-time record for most consecutive weeks at No. 1 in history of the ATP Rankings on Feb. 26, 2007, breaking the old mark of Jimmy Connors (160)…Has ranked No. 1 every week since Feb. 2, 2004, a record 194 weeks…Stands No. 4 on Weeks at No. 1 - Sampras (286), Ivan Lendl (270), Connors (268), Federer (194), and McEnroe (170).

Since the beginning of 2004, has compiled a 302-21 match record (.935) and won 40 titles in 61 tournaments; won 11 titles in 2004-05 and a career-best 12 last year when he compiled a 92-5 match record…Appeared in 16 finals in 17 events (four finals losses coming to Nadal).

His 51 career titles puts him in 9th place in the Open Era Career Titles list.

Federer is the first man in history to reach all four Grand Slam finals two years in a row Federer is the first man in the Open Era to win four straight US Open singles titles, and the first in history since Bill Tilden, who achieved the feat between 1920 and 1923.

Federer has won Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back for the last four years - no man has ever achieved that feat for more than two years running.

Having gone into the US Open as the US Open Series winner, Federer earned a $1 million bonus for his title, bringing his prize money cheque to $2.4 million, which was the largest payout in the history of professional tennis.

CANAS FASTFACTS
Comes into third round with 37-18 record (13-7 on hard) on the season.

The Argentine has had an incredible season, shaving nine tenths off his ranking since the start of the year (shooting from No. 142 on January 1 to No. 14 now).

Season highlighted by wins over World No. 1 Federer at back-to-back ATP Masters Series tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami; d. Federer 75 62 in second round of Indian Wells (l. third round to Moya) then 76(2) 26 76(5) in fourth round of Miami (would notch two more Top 10 wins over Robredo and Ljubicic en route to second career ATP Masters Series final; was runner-up to Djokovic); one of two players to d. Federer twice this season (also Nadal).

The Argentine is attempting to become the first player to defeat Federer four times on hard courts in his career; five other players have beaten the Swiss three times before on hard courts (Agassi, Clement, Ferrero, Hewitt and Nalbandian); Canas and Nadal (8-5) are the only active players to have beaten Federer at least three times and own a winning record.

Other impressive results are seventh career ATP singles title at Costa do Sauipe (d. Chela and Ferrero in semifinals and final) and runner-up finishes at AMS Miami and Barcelona (l. to Nadal in final); now 7-9 lifetime in ATP singles finals.

Two-time semifinalist, at Umag (l. to Moya) and two weeks ago at Metz (l. to Murray).

One-time quarterfinalist, at Roland Garros (third career major quarterfinal; l. to Davydenko)

Thirteen pre-quarterfinal losses, incl. third round at Wimbledon (l. to Hewitt), second round at US Open (l. to Lee) and first round last week at Vienna (l. to Ferrero in third set tie-break). (ATP Digital Services)