World No. 1
Roger Federer, coming off a loss to
David Nalbandian in the final at the Masters Series-
Madrid, leads fellow Top 10ers
Fernando Gonzalez,
David Ferrer and
James Blake this week on the Swiss' home turf at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors
Basel.
Wildcards into the event were awarded to Blake, No. 8 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu, and Swiss
Marco Chiudinelli.
Other seeded players are No. 5
Tomas Berdych, No. 6
Guillermo Canas, and No. 7
Juan Ignacio Chela.
Federer's nemesis Nalbandian is unseeded and could meet the Swiss in the semifinals. Nalbandian opens against homecountry favorite Stan Wawrinka, and Federer against Germany's
Michael Berrer.
The No. 4-seeded Blake could be looking at a second-round match-up against big-serving Croatian "Dr."
Ivo Karlovic, while the No. 5-seeded Berdych has a tough opener against Spain's Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez.
In the bottom half the No. 2-seeded Gonzalez opens against a qualifier, then faces the winner of two other qualifiers.
In last year's final Federer beat Gonzalez 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(3).
