Defending Sony Ericsson Miami champion Novak Djokovic looks to win the first two ATP Tennis Masters Series tournaments of the season while top-ranked Roger Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal attempt to break their title drought and capture their first title in 2008.
Federer, a former two-time champion (2005-06), comes into the tournament as the top seed for the fifth consecutive year. The Swiss superstar has a tricky draw ahead of him, opening with the winner of Gael Monfils-John Isner. In the third round, Federer could meet countryman and No. 28 Stanislas Wawrinka. In the fourth round, he could face longtime rival Lleyton Hewitt or Tommy Robredo.
A possible quarterfinal opponent could be the winner of No. 6 Andy Roddick and No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is coming off a career-best quarterfinal in an ATP Masters Series tournament. Also looming is No. 19 Ivo Karlovic and No. 30 Juan Ignacio Chela, a two-time quarterfinalist in Miami. Karlovic would meet Tsonga and Chela would play Roddick in the 3rd Rd.
In the second quarter of the draw, No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko and No. 5 David Ferrer, a Miami semifinalist in two of the past three years, are the highest seeds, along with No.11 Mikhail Youzhny and No. 13 Andy Murray, a semifinalist last season.
A couple of interesting first round match-ups in that section are wild card Mario Ancic who plays Gilles Simon with the winner to take on Murray and Indian Wells finalist Mardy Fish, who climbed from No. 98 to No. 40, plays Frenchman Arnaud Clement (tied 1-1). That winner will face No. 24 Nicolas Almagro. Fish has never advanced past the third round in six previous appearances in Miami.
In the bottom half of the draw, No. 2 Nadal could meet No. 3 Djokovic again in the semifinals after last week in Indian Wells. The two met in the quarterfinals last year with Djokovic winning in straight sets en route to the title.
Nadal's first seeded opponent would be No. 25 Jarkko Nieminen in the third round and either No. 16 Paul-Henri Mathieu or No. 20 Carlos Moya in the fourth round. Moya defeated Nadal in the second round two years ago and is a former finalist (2003).
In the quarterfinals, the Spaniard could face either No. 7 David Nalbandian, a semifinalist two years ago, No. 9 James Blake, No. 23 Ivan Ljubicic or No. 27 Radek Stepanek. In the third round, Nalbandian would meet Stepanek and Ljubicic would take on Blake. Although Ljubicic has dropped out of the Top 10, he reached the final two years ago and the semifinals last season.
A couple of intriguing first round matches in that section include wild card Gustavo Kuerten, a finalist in 2000, against Sebastien Grosjean, a runner-up in 1999. Grosjean leads the series 3-2 and the two first met nine years ago in the second round in Miami with the Frenchman winning. That winner will play Stepanek.
The two oldest players in the draw square off as 35-year-old Fabrice Santoro plays 36-year-old Jonas Bjorkman with the winner to face Ljubicic. Bjorkman leads the series 3-1 but the Frenchman won the last meeting in Cincinnati in 2004.
Former Top 10 Germans Nicolas Kiefer and Tommy Haas also meet in the first round with the winner to play Nieminen. Kiefer has won three of the previous five meetings although they are 1-1 on hard courts.
In the third quarter of the draw, Djokovic's highest seeded opponent is No. 8 Richard Gasquet, who will have a difficult opening round match against the winner of Russians Dmitry Tursunov-Evgeny Korolev. The first seed Djokovic would meet is No 31 Igor Andreev in the third round and then either No. 15/last year's finalist Guillermo Canas or No. 17 Fernando Gonzalez. Gasquet, No. 10 Tomas Berdych, No. 22 Juan Carlos Ferrero or No. 32 Feliciano Lopez are possible quarterfinal opponents. (ATP Digital Services)
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