Second round action resumes Wednesday at the Paris Masters with 10 of the Top 16 seeds in second round play, including the Top 4 players in the world: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko.
Federer tests the ever-dangerous Ivo Karlovic in a rematch of the Basel final won by the Swiss on Sunday. Nadal will have his hands full against Filippo Volandri, while Djokovic faces the fabulous Fabrice Santoro.
There are nine other contenders in action battling for the remaining two positions in the Race to Shanghai. No. 15 Ivan Ljubicic meets No. 19 Marcos Baghdatis while No. 14 Carlos Moya plays No. 25 David Nalbandian in two key matches.
ROGER FEDERER FASTFACTS
Another phenomenal season for the World No. 1, reaching the final at 11 of 13 events entered and coming away with seven titles, incl. winning his 10th, 11th, 12th career Grand Slam titles at Australian Open (second straight, third overall), Wimbledon (fifth straight) and US Open (fourth straight); has a 63-7 record going into Paris opener (39-4 on hard).
Four-time runner-up, at AMS Monte-Carlo and Roland Garros (l. to Nadal at both), at AMS Canada (l. to Djokovic 7-6 third set) and AMS Madrid (l. to Nalbandian in three sets).
His three pre-final losses all came pre-quarterfinal as well, falling in the second round of AMS Indian Wells and the fourth round of AMS Miami (l. to Canas both times) and falling in the third round at AMS Rome (l. to Volandri).
His title run at AMS Hamburg broke a span of four tournaments without a title (AMS Indian Wells, AMS Miami, AMS Monte-Carlo, AMS Rome), his longest drought since he became No. 1 in the world (on February 2, 2004); the last time this occurred was when he played Gstaad, AMS Canada, Cincinnati and the US Open without a title (summer of 2003).
Split with coach Tony Roche after falling in Monte-Carlo final (to Nadal) and in third round of Rome (to Volandri); has a 44-3 mark since they split.
By virtue of his Australian Open title, became the first man to win three different Grand Slam titles at least three times; then, after one-month break, returned to action at Dubai and won his fourth title there in the last five years.
His career-best 41-match win streak came to an end with his opening round loss at Indian Wells to Canas (l. to Canas again in his next tournament in Miami).
Reached 500 career match wins on April 20 with his Monte-Carlo quarterfinal win (d. Ferrer).
IVO KARLOVIC FASTFACTS
Comes into Madrid with 43-20 record (29-15 on hard) and ranked a career-high No. 24.
Career-best season, highlighted by first three ATP singles titles at Houston (on clay), Nottingham (on grass) and Stockholm (on indoor hardcourts).
One-time runner-up, at San Jose (l. to Murray in third set tie-break).
Also four-time semifinalist (incl. last week in Basel) and three-time quarterfinalist.
Best Grand Slam result this year was second round finish at Roland Garros (d. Blake in first round, falling to Bjorkman in five sets); fell first round at the other three majors.
Has gone 15-4 since first round US Open exit, most impressive runs being title at Stockholm and semifinal finishes at Tokyo and just last week in Basel (l. to Federer). (ATP Digital Services)
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