ATP - Monte Carlo Draw Preview

World No. 1 and six-time defending champion Rafael Nadal could face French No. 13 seed Richard Gasquet in an early test at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. Home hope Gasquet, who famously beat Roger Federer en route to the 2005 semi-finals, is seeded to meet the Spaniard in the third round.

The 24-year-old Nadal is chasing a 19th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title and is unbeaten in his past 32 matches at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, which hosts the first event of the European clay-court swing. The Mallorcan has a bye through the first round and will open his campaign against either a qualifier or Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen.

World No. 2 Federer also faces early challenges as he opens his campaign against either Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev or Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber. The Swiss is seeded to meet No. 15 Marin Cilic in the third round, with the prospect of No. 7 Jurgen Melzer or No. 9 Nicolas Almagro in the quarter-finals.

 

The 29-year-old Federer is bidding to win the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters for the first time after three runner-up finishes from 2006-2008. Should he succeed, he would equal Nadal’s record haul of 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles.

World No. 3 Andy Murray accepted a late wild card into the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and will hope to snap a four-match losing streak when he faces either Czech Radek Stepanek or Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the second round. Baghdatis is one of three players to have dealt Murray an opening-round exit since the Scot’s defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final at the end of January.

Spaniards David Ferrer, the No. 4 seed, and returning finalist Fernando Verdasco, the No. 6 seed, feature in the third quarter of the draw. Ferrer, a winner of two ATP World Tour titles already this year, reached the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo last year and opens his 2011 campaign against either countryman Feliciano Lopez or Serbian Janko Tipsarevic. Verdasco, who reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in Monte-Carlo last year, begins against either fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo or Croatian Ivan Dodig.

There are two stand-out first-round matches in the third quarter of the draw. No. 14 seed and rising star Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine opens against Latvian Ernests Gulbis, with the winner to face either fast-rising Canadian Milos Raonic or Frenchman Michael Llodra.

No. 8 seed Gael Monfils spearheads the French challenge in Monte-Carlo and finds himself in the second quarter of the draw to open against either Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver or Colombian Santiago Giraldo. He could meet 10th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the third round.

No. 12 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France is also in the top half of the draw and will face a tricky opener in Argentine Juan Monaco. Should he progress, he could come across fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych in the third round. The 25-year-old Berdych, who reached the semi-finals in 2007 (l. to Nadal) will begin against either a qualifier or Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.

---