Notes: Why “Qualifier” and Victor Hanescu as floaters? Because one of those will likely send the struggling No. 4 seed Roddick out of the tournament in his first match; interesting opening-round match-ups include (6) Baghdatis vs. (WC) Benneteau, and (8) Fognini vs. (WC) Gulbis; Roddick is making his debut in Nice, looking for some last-minute clay preparation after going winless this dirt season, and extending his losing record to four straight matches; the Top 4 seeds in Nice this year are all making their tournament debuts; Richard Gasquet won the title last year.

Open De Nice Cote D’Azur
Nice, France
Surface: clay
Seeds: Robin Soderling, Fernando Verdasco, Gael Monfils, Thomaz Bellucci, Marcos Baghdatis, Al Montanes, Michael Berrer, Lucasz Kubot
ADHEREL
Floaters: (WC) Mario Ancic, Richard Gasquet
Notes: (5) Baghdatis opens against (WC) Ancic; possible (6) Montanes vs. Gasquet 2nd rd.; Nice replaces Kitzbuhel this year during this calendar week, the city’s first ATP event [...]

A slew of players ranked in the 20s and 30s make up the rest of the seeded contingent, most notably Alona Bondarenko, the No.2 seed. Bondarenko has had her strongest results of the year so far on clay, making quarterfinals at Amelia Island and Berlin, and taking out the likes of Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova along the way.