Federer v Nadal in Doha; Brisbane, Chennai, ATP Previews

Qatar Exxon Mobil Open 2010
Doha, Qatar
Surface: hard

Seeds: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko, Mikhail Youzhny, Viktor Troicki, Al Montanes, “Dr.” Ivo Karlovic, Guillermo “G-Lo” Garcia-Lopez
ADHEREL
Floaters: Ernests Gulbis

Notes: Wildcard to Moroccan veteran Younes El Aynaoui; not a whole lot standing between a Federer-Nadal final; two-time defending champ Andy Murray takes a pass?; former champs in the field are Federer (2005-06) and El Aynaoui (2002).

Brisbane International
Brisbane, Australia
Surface: hard (Plexicushion)

Seeds: Andy Roddick, Radek “The Worm” Stepanek, Gael “Force” Monfils, Tomas Berdych, Sam Querrey, Jurgen “Tuna” Melzer, Jeremy Chardy, Thomaz Bellucci

Floaters: Richard “The Kiss” Gasquet, Jarkko Nieminen, Mardy Fish, Marcos Baghdatis, James Blake, Taylor Dent

Notes: First rounders of interest are Gasquet vs. Nieminen, Fish vs. Baghdatis, (5) Querrey vs. Blake in an all-American meeting of the two players fighting to represent the U.S. in the No. 2 Davis Cup slot, (3) Gael Force vs. Dent; Aussie teen “sensation” Bernard Tomic gets a wildcard; The Worm the defending champ, and former champs Michael Llodra (2008) and Florent Serra (2006) in the field; Roddick opens against Aussie Peter Luczak and could face big-serving Aussie wildcard Carsten Ball in the 2nd rd.

Aircel Chennai Open 2010
Chennai, India
Surface: hard (Play Pave)

Seeds: Robin Soderling, Marin Cilic, Stan Wawrinka, Janko Tipsarevic, Dudi Sela, Simon Gruel, Michael Berrer, Rajeev Ram

Floaters: Robby Ginepri, (WC) Carlos Moya

Notes: (4) Tipsarevic vs. (WC) Moya first round, and (1) Soderling vs. Ginepri; wildcard to former NCAA champ and last year’s finalist Somdev Devvarman; Cilic is defending champ; Moya won the title in 2004-05.