FEDERER, Roger - Bye
GAUDIO, Gaston vs MASSU, Nicolas
SODERLING, Robin vs ROCHUS, Olivier
FERRERO, Juan Carlos - Bye

ANCIC, Mario - Bye
GINEPRI, Robby vs LOPEZ, Feliciano
CHELA, Juan Ignacio vs MOYA, Carlos
ROBREDO, Tommy - Bye

NALBANDIAN, David - Bye
Q vs Q
VERDASCO, Fernando vs HENMAN, Tim
FERRER, David - Bye

BAGHDATIS, Marcos - Bye
SAFIN, Marat vs ACASUSO, Jose
VLIEGEN, Kristof vs TURSUNOV, Dmitry
BLAKE, James - Bye

DAVYDENKO, Nikolay - Bye
Q vs JOHANSSON, Joachim
SRICHAPHAN, Paradorn vs Q
GONZALEZ, Fernando - Bye

DJOKOVIC, Novak - Bye
NIEMINEN, Jarkko vs GASQUET, Richard
MURRAY, Andy vs Q
LJUBICIC, Ivan - Bye

RODDICK, Andy - Bye
GROSJEAN, Sebastien vs BJORKMAN, Jonas
CALLERI, Agustin vs SERRA, Florent
BERDYCH, Tomas - Bye

HAAS, Tommy - Bye
MONFILS, Gael vs HRBATY, Dominik
MALISSE, Xavier vs Q
NADAL, Rafael - Bye

At a quick glance Nadal seems to have a harder draw with possibilities of Lubijic, Haas, maybe Roddick or Berdych maybe even Murray.

Federer has drawn Nalbandian and Blake but Blake doesn't pose too much of a problem and Nalbandian is out of form.

ljubo will take care of murray imo. nadal with some surprising losses lately. fed has to be a big fav again.

If Henman is playing well, I could see him getting to the quarters.

Anyone feel like running a predictions contest?? :rolleyes:

I disagree to a point. At least the draw up to the semis doesn't look so easy for Federer. Gaudio and Massu are both good players, though perhaps not good enough to challenge him. In-form Ferrero or even tiny Olivier Rochus could also give Fed some trouble.

Nalbandian, Safin, Blake, Baghdatis are all dangerous players who could wait in the semis. That quarter is probably the worst part of the draw; with Tim Henman right in the middle of it, though thankfully he doesn't seem to have it as bad as it could be - he could certainly make the last 16 on his current good form.

On the other hand, I don't see too many people troubling Nadal in his half of the draw. Roddick or Berdych in the quarters seem to be the main obstacle; either one should make a good match. (I'd like to finally see Nadal v Roddick which we were not meant to get in the USO!) Neither Malisse nor Haas should really be too much of a challenge for Nadal.

Lots of good players in the third quarter, but not sure any of them can really give Nadal a run for his money if they meet in the semis. Ljubicic will be a test for Murray in the second round, though.

He has a tough draw though Nick :( :( :( verdasco first up who is ranked about 20 places above him... then if he wins he will play 14th seed Ferrer :( and if he gets as far as that then he looks to have Nalbandian in the 3rd round :angry:

then lets say he beat Nalbandian... he would have probably Bagdahtis, Safin, Tursonov or Blake!! I dont like the sound of that draw at all!

Verdasco just lost in the first round of Moscow, so hopefully Henman can capitalise on the spaniard's poor form. As we know henman is playing so much better now, the best he has all year. He could potentially make the quarters if everything goes well. It's hard to believe Henman was number 1 seed here in Madrid in 04, now he's a wildcard :lol:

I hope Safin and nadal do well too, Nadal in particular who's been really average since Wimby :pray:

I think Fed is defintiely the overwhelming favourite as usual but I would like to see someone else win for a change like Lubj or A Rod, Tim or Andy :)

Ljub seems to be finding some good form right now so he needs to get in the successes while he can.

Very interesting for both the big Bosses:They will have to perform and both of them ( I guess even from the beginning).

More precisely, I will consider only the first two rounds...(a little bit far we need to know how Ancic is currently playing and in the other side Berdych)

More precisely, Federer did not have such a "easy" drawn: Massu (more than Gaudio) might give him some work for sure..After it will be very interesting: Ferrero (can be very dangerous) but also O. Rochus or even Sonderling cannot be underestimate... B)

For Nadal it is even worst: :yikes: X-man can be very difficult and after well there is a chance to see Monfils (why not). If Monfils is there in the third round he can generate the surprise...But let's face it: I really hope Nadal pass these obstacles as well as A-ROD: I really hope a Nadal vs A-ROD :pray: ...

Ciao :ok:

henman on tomorrow's match:

“The conditions should suit me well here and I know what I have to do to make life difficult for him,” Henman said.

“I feel like I’m in a really good place with my tennis right now.

“I’m healthy, I’m really enjoying playing and I’m more confident than I have been in recent months after a few good results in Asia.

“It’s not a case of me hitting the ball any better than I was a few months ago, but I’ve been able to produce the results over the last few weeks.

“Fernando is a very talented player and I have a lot of respect for him.

“However, I have a good record against lefties and I know that if I can execute on my side of the net then I’ve got a good chance.”


sounds to me like he has a good mindset for this one. come on tim, i know you can keep this bandwagon rolling!

crappy quarter for ancic...robredo and federer.

a couple possible 2nd rounders of note...
safin/baghdatis
djokovic/gasquet

fed to take the title but if not him, throw a bone to ancic or gasquet :D

Ferrero's play has been so up and down lately, but if he's on form for this tournament, I'm thinking Federer-Ferrero could be a great match.

oh where have you gone juan carlos ferrero??

So far, we have Benneteau, Srichiphan, Murray, Fish and Massu advancing to the second round.

And ongoing now is the much-anticipated Calleri v. Serra matchup, 5-4 on serve in the first set. . :D

Mardy Fish over Xavier Malisse was, perhaps, a mild upset.

Yes, I expected Malisse to win that one. This will probably make it easier for Nadal as I don't expect Fish to trouble him too much.

Chela vs. Moya looks interesting. I would have gone for Moya - but looking at the scoreline i realise i may have been wrong.....

Nick, is it possible to create a sub forum for future predictions contests, as im afraid i might end up spamming the fun and games section :wacko: For the current one i will just use one thread for the predictions and one for the results, but that might complicate things

And Chela won - quite easily!!!! Shows what i know about tennis roflmao

Sure. I could set up a subforum, similar to the one for the X-Factor.

Ok, thanks Nick :ok:

Me too and it messed up my prediction :angry:

O crap bloody mens tennis is too unoredictable roflmao

I reckon there's some swiss bloke who might be a fair bet... roflmao

Here we go then guys :D Tim vs Verdasco, GAME ON!

1-0 Tim :)

1-1 now.

3-2 to Tim :D

3-3 now...

Tim has boomed down 3 aces in 3 games and Verdasco has done 2 double faults in 3 games so far!

4-3 Tim, Pheeeewww that was a close one! Verdasco went 0-30 up on Tims serve and then Tim won 4 points in a row to win the game :phew:

4-4

5-4 to Tim, He has now boomed down 5 aces :D

5-5 now, this is one heck of a close battle so far!

6-5 Tim....

Tim wins the first set 7-5 :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

oh boy, tim get 3 set points 0-40 on verdasco's serve. he blew 2 of them and i feared the worst but bags the 3rd and breaks for the first set 7-5. very very close but so far so good.

Yeh I was worried when it went from 0-40 to 30-40!

2nd set Tim wins his service game and its 1-0

and he breaks for 2-0!! woohoo!!

Yep :yahoo:

Yes! Come on, Tiger!

Tim up a set and a break (which he still needs to consolidate, though). Looks like his good form is continuing ... let's hope he can close this out now! :ok: