Roger Federer SUI (1)
vs.
Bjorn Phau GER

Jonas Bjorkman SWE
vs.
Olivier Patience FRA

Simon Greul GER
vs.
Yen-Hsun Lu TPE

Jan Hernych CZE
vs.
Mikhail Youzhny RUS (25)

Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP (24)
vs.
Jan Hajek CZE

Danai Udomchoke THA
vs.
Martin Vassallo Arguello ARG

Feliciano Lopez ESP
vs.
QUALIFIER

Nicolas Massu CHI
vs.
Novak Djokovic SRB (14)

Marcos Baghdatis CYP (11)
vs.
Rainer Schuettler GER

Gael Monfils FRA
vs.
Daniele Bracciali ITA

Gilles Simon FRA
vs.
Amer Delic USA

Filippo Volandri ITA
vs.
Richard Gasquet FRA (18)

Jose Acasuso ARG (27)
vs.
Sam Querrey USA

Florent Serra FRA
vs.
Nicolas Devilder FRA

Ivo Karlovic CRO
vs.
Jurgen Melzer AUT

Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo ESP
vs.
Tommy Robredo ESP (7)

Ivan Ljubicic CRO (4)
vs.
Mardy Fish USA

Nicolas Mahut FRA
vs.
Juan Monaco ARG

Stefan Koubek AUT
vs.
Wayne Arthurs AUS

QUALIFIER
vs.
Agustin Calleri ARG (30)

Radek Stepanek CZE (20)
vs.
Michael Llodra FRA

Lukas Dlouhy CZE
vs.
QUALIFIER

Thomas Johansson SWE
vs.
QUALIFIER

Kristian Pless DEN
vs.
David Ferrer ESP (16)

Mario Ancic CRO (9)
vs.
Go Soeda JPN

Joachim Johansson SWE
vs.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP

Vincent Spadea USA
vs.
Igor Andreev RUS

Jiri Vanek CZE
vs.
Dominik Hrbaty SVK (22)

Marat Safin RUS (26)
vs.
Benjamin Becker GER

QUALIFIER
vs.
Paradorn Srichaphan THA

Marc Gicquel FRA
vs.
Alun Jones AUS

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA
vs.
Andy Roddick USA (6)

David Nalbandian ARG (8)
vs.
Janko Tipsarevic SRB

QUALIFIER
vs.
Nicolas Lapentti ECU

Chris Guccione AUS
vs.
Olivier Rochus BEL

Christophe Rochus BEL
vs.
Sebastien Grosjean FRA (28)

Robin Soderling SWE (23)
vs.
Florian Mayer GER

Andreas Seppi ITA
vs.
QUALIFIER

QUALIFIER
vs.
QUALIFIER

Albert Montanes ESP
vs.
Tommy Haas GER (12)

Tomas Berdych CZE (13)
vs.
Hyung-Taik Lee KOR

QUALIFIER
vs.
Robert Smeets AUS

Max Mirnyi BLR
vs.
Luis Horna PER

QUALIFIER
vs.
Dmitry Tursunov RUS (21)

Xavier Malisse BEL (29)
vs.
Arnaud Clement FRA

Fabrice Santoro FRA
vs.
Igor Kunitsyn RUS

Gilles Muller LUX
vs.
Gaston Gaudio ARG

Sergio Roitman ARG
vs.
Nikolay Davydenko RUS (3)

James Blake USA (5)
vs.
Carlos Moya ESP

Peter Luczak AUS
vs.
QUALIFIER

QUALIFIER
vs.
QUALIFIER

Robby Ginepri USA
vs.
Nicolas Almagro ESP (32)

Lleyton Hewitt AUS (19)
vs.
QUALIFIER

Frank Dancevic CAN
vs.
Victor Hanescu ROM

Juan Martin Del Potro ARG
vs.
Alessio Di Mauro ITA

Evgeny Korolev RUS
vs.
Fernando Gonzalez CHI (10)

Andy Murray GBR (15)
vs.
Alberto Martin ESP

Fernando Verdasco ESP
vs.
Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA

Juan Ignacio Chela ARG
vs.
Potito Starace ITA

Paul Goldstein USA
vs.
Jarkko Nieminen FIN (17)

Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (31)
vs.
Kevin Kim USA

Julien Benneteau FRA
vs.
QUALIFIER

Kristof Vliegen BEL
vs.
Philipp Kohlschreiber GER

Robert Kendrick USA
vs.
Rafael Nadal ESP (2)


Apologies for the dodgy formatting, the full draw is available at http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores...ws/ms/r1s4.html

anyone know which side of the draw plays on the first day?

Kendrick v Rafa.. is that not a re-match of the roudn 1 match at SW19 last year??

Somehow I don't think that it will be quite as close.. but who knows??

Andy R and Marat in the 3rd Round could be interesting...

I think Roger and Andy will get to the semis from that half.

The bottom half could throw up a few surprises.

Blake has a great chance, we'll see about Murray; but Rafas looming large.

First impressions - Federer's got another sitter, his first testing match potentially being Djokovic in the 4th round. Gasquet and Baghdatis are due to meet in the 3rd round and the winner of this match should fancy their chances of beating lame duck Robredo.

Roddick and Safin are due to meet in round 3, but first Safin has to get past Becker and possibly Sricaphan! :yikes: Bit of a nightmare draw for the Russian. Fish could well batter Ljubicic in the first round, this looks the most open eighth of the draw.

Nalbandian's got a tricky first round match in Tipsarevic, but Davydenko's got a nice draw up until Berdych in round 4 - that could be a cracker.

Blake has Moya in the first round, a potential banana skin, but if he gets through that should make it to the 4th round to meet Gonzo or Hewitt (although Gonzo has promising youngster Korolov in the first round, and possibly other prospect Del Potro in the second. Murray's got a decent draw but if the heat affects him, he's not gonna have much joy against Verdasco or PHM in round 2. He's seeded to meet Nieminem in round 3, and Nadal in round 4. That is if Nadal can get past Kendrick (guy who scared him at Wimbledon) in the first round and Wawrinka, who he's due to meet in round 3.

All very astute analysis Wise :)

That being said I don't see there being too many upsets actually. I mean seeds getting knocked out in the first three rounds by non-seeds.

I think Federer's draw is a lot easier than his last Wimbledon one but harder than his last USO one.

Yeh I can't see too many potential shocks, Gonzo and Safin have got the nightmare draws as far as I can tell.

Federer's actually got a nemesis in round 1, with a 0-1 H2H against Phau... I sense chilling warnings all round ;)2

I guess Youzhny's got to be a slight threat given his performance at the US Open, but it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't even get to the 3rd round. Bjorkman or Patience in the 2nd round, he'd get through with his eyes shut.

He is due to meet some of the youngsters once the real action starts - Djokovic round 4 and Gasquet / Baghdatis in the QF, I hope those players actually get that far. If they do it's certainly harder for Fed than Gicquel :yikes: and his sycophant Blake, his opponents at these respective stages in last year's US Open.

His sychophant Blake roflmao roflmao

Ye I hope he has a baggy rematch as that would pretty special or another Gasquet encounter. And with any luck they'll put up a good fight, and you never know ;)

Most of the top 8 seeds should be relatively happy with the draw. Nadal may have a tough one again facing Kendrick but should prevail as he knows his game. Blake is waiting for him in the quarters.

Federer's potential threats: Youzhny third round an Djokovic fourth. Dont see any dangers till Roddick/Safin in the semis.

Some interesting first rounders, apart from Rafa v Kendrick

Baggy plays former AO finalist Schuettler.. Mardy Fish v Lluby, Safin v Becker, Verdasco v Mathieu, Berdych v Lee..

I think that all of these could be good matchups..

Usually the better matches in the earlier rounds of slams don't involve the top seeds where the contests are more even.

I'd hope that bbci will cover some of these matches :) They are of course likely to cover Murray's matches, and they look a little tricky even in the early stages.. Alberto Martin, then Verdasco, Nieminem, then Nadal/ Wawrinka.. I think!!

Yep Federer has an easy draw.. :whistle: Fed will sleep easy (as usual)..nothing new :rolleyes: lol

Hi chet, hopefully Gasquet or Baghdatis can put out Robredo in the 4th round, I'd give both of them a good chance of toppling Federer in the QF. Roddick's route to the semis looks fairly secure, apart from Safin in round 3. But Safin himself has a nasty route even to that stage.

Yes Wise, I sincerely hope Gasquet gets to play Federer. He was the only player who thoroughly outplayed Federer on a hard court last year for one set. Roddick should have a safe passage but for Safin. I kind of think Roddick is going to start beating Federer from now on. He has almost won against Murray now and tomorrow's final will be very interesting to watch.

Looks like pretty fair draws for all the top seeds.

With Davydenko and Nalbandian both in some injury doubt, the third quarter might turn out to open up for someone unexpected to come through. Of course, we don't know how serious the injuries will actually turn out to be.

Nadal may be a little disappointed to have drawn Blake in his quarter, but as far as I'm concerned if he wants to make the semis, he *should* have to finally overcome Blake. Of course, that's assuming that he and Blake will make it, which is far from certain; Hewitt in Australia is bound to be a tough customer, for example.

Nadal v Murray in the 4th round could also be an exciting prospect.


Fed's draw isn't too bad either. The first two rounds should be OK. I feel sorry for Bjorkman to have drawn Fed in the second round. But Jonas isn't a walk-over, so it should be a good challenge.

Likewise, Youzhny could challenge Fed a bit; he's been in excellent form recently. However, the H2H of 7-0 looks pretty ominous, so I don't think there'll be an upset there.

So Fed should be in good form for the fourth round, and well up for playing 'Djoke'ovic; let's see whether there are any injury time-outs ...

After that, I really hope Baghdatis will come through the second part of the quarter. I think people here sometimes hype up Gasquet a bit too much; I don't think he can give Roger a fight over five sets, at least not at the moment. Even when Federer was tired in Toronto, Gasquet couldn't take him down in three; how is he going to do it in a slam QF? :shrug:

That being said, I don't really see Baggy beating Fed either, but he is always such fun to watch, and rises to the big occasions. Is there anyone who sees Robredo coming through to the quarters? I must say his game doesn't do much for me, I'm afraid.

That was second round, I believe. It could be interesting. I would not expect Kendrick to have as much success against Nadal on these courts, but then again, Nadal has not been on form as much as he was when these two met at Wimbledon.

Nice draw hey.Im now dying with anticipation!

I quite like this draw, and I've got to say that considering they are number 1 and 2 seeds, Federer and Nadal's sections are the most interesting in the draw.

Baghdatis, Djokovic and Gasquet all in Federer's section, so a great opportunity for these young guns to show us what they're made of. Personally I don't think either will beat Fed, but Djoko can really make him sweat, whilst Baghdatis and Gasquet up against the Fed-meister will be early treats for the Aus Open crowd.

As for Nadal's section, his match against Kendrick should be v entertaining like the last one, but Nadal should win it more comfortably. Murray, Gonzo, Blake and Hewitt are all there, and its v difficult to pick who will come out of this section (but I don't reckon it will be Nadal).

I would say the draw favours Fed, since H2H-wise he's got a much better part of the draw than Nadal. However, talent-wise his part of the draw is much more impressive with allmost all of the young guns and Safin in his half of the draw, distributed in such a way, that from the 3rd round on (Youzhni) he could have some tough matches, which could perhaps help a possible final opponent to have more energy.

Looks like a decent draw to me.
Not seeing much people who look like they can bother Fed.

I share these views: it is a very fair drawn for both the big Bosses. I am really convince that for both of them, starting from the 3rd for FED in particular, it would become quite challanging.

It is might be interesting as well to post the official coment you can find on the ATP web site.
My feeling is that they are describing quite well the outcome of this draw:

"Seeking a seventh consecutive appearance in a Grand Slam final, Roger Federer would be happy after seeing the Australian Open draw released Thursday. The World No. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion plays German Bjorn Phau in the first round and the winner of Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman and Frenchman Olivier Patience in the second round.

Russian Mikhail Youzhny, a US Open semifinalist last year, is a potential third-round opponent, with 14th seed and fast-rising Serb teenager Novak Djokovic a possible fourth-round foe.

Federer has won eight of his nine Grand Slam titles during the past three seasons and has reached the semifinals or better in his past 10 Grand Slam outings.

Second seed Rafael Nadal, who missed last year's Australian Open with a left foot injury, meets American Robert Kendrick in the first round. The big-serving Kendrick led Nadal two sets to love at Wimbledon last year. The Spaniard could meet 19-year-old Scot Andy Murray in the fourth round. If he reaches the quarterfinals Nadal will likely face either 2005 finalist and hometown favorite Lleyton Hewitt, No. 5 seed James Blake or 1997 finalist Carlos Moya.

In a rough first-round match for Blake, the Tennis Masters Cup finalist has drawn Moya, who at No. 44 in the ATP Rankings is unseeded in Melbourne.

Flamboyant Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who won over fans at Melbourne Park last year with his stunning run to the final, could meet Federer in the quarterfinals. Seeded 11th, Baghdatis opens against fellow former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler, with possible meetings with young Frenchmen Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet in the second and third rounds, and possibly seventh-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the fourth round.

Fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic opens against American Mardy Fish and, based on the draw, would like his chances of advancing to the quarterfinals, where his likely opponent would be either No. 9 seed Mario Ancic, No. 6 seed Andy Roddick or 2005 champion Marat Safin.

Roddick and Safin are tied at 3-3 in career meetings, with Safin winning their only match-up during the past two years - on clay in last year's Davis Cup semifinals. Roddick opens against Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Safin meets big-serving German Benjamin Becker in the first round.

Roddick, the two-time Australian Open semifinalist [Wise was telling to us that he was never able to achieve anything at the AO roflmao ], may play the tournament without coach Jimmy Connors, who is mourning the death of his mother, Gloria, in the USA.

Eighth seed David Nalbandian faces Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the first round but may not face his first true test until the fourth round, where he is seeded to meet German Tommy Haas.

Third seed Nikolay Davydenko opens against Argentine Sergio Roitman and could meet Davis Cup team mate Dmitry Tursunov, seeded No.21, in the third round."

details HERE

I agree with this. In Fact with Federer's record over the last 3 years, one might think any draw where Nadal is on the opposite side is a good draw but I think Fed's draw is again a bit tougher than Nadal.

A couple of comments here. Ljubo is likely to meet Stepanek in the 4th round who beat him 62 62 at Kooyong. I know its just an exhibition but I don't think Ljubo will find it an easy match. Also, Ancic is up against Pim Pim in the 2nd round which might be an upset.

Nalby and Davydenko both have injury worries so not sure if they'll play. Even if they do, they might not be completely fit. Berdych might be able to take advantage of this if he can find some form and consistency.

Davydenko is rumoured to have a stress fracture. If he withdraws before Monday (and if Nadal were to withdraw say) would this mean the draw would be re-jigged with the seeds changing their positions in the draw?

It's interesting to see that Blake and Moya are now into the Medibank finals; a preview of their first round match up next week. Will they be thinking more about trying to win the final or about feeling each other out in preparation for the AO. . .?

Nadal versus Andy Murray - THAT would be THE match of the tournament for me.

Nalbandian, Murray and Nadal on the other side to fed, that's good news for him. I'm not saying he couldn't handle Murray and Nalbandian but esp Nalbandian has given him problems in the past, they looked closely matched at the french last year, before Nalbandian retired.
I'm no sure, but reckon Murray could do quite well, if he meets Nadal he has nothing to lose and Nadal is struggling with confidence at the mo.
I guess Feds match against Roddick at Kooyong wont be significant unless Roddick hammers fed, then a few eyebrows might be raised.

Murray would get destroyed in 3 straight I bet.
I hope this match happens though.

in a fair match nadal would win against murray (and he'd kick murray's arse in a fistfight which i'd pay good money to see btw). however, rafa is struggling bigtime with a groin injury so all bets are off imo.

have to say though, that murray fella is a lucky lucky boy when it comes to draws. berti martin can barely beat anybody let alone murray. jammy so and so.

i'd love to see the rochus brothers play each other in round 2. of course that would involve chris rochus winning a match. and what are the odds of that happening? :rolleyes:

Well, there seem to be a few interesting potential match-ups....

Federer certainly seems to have a good first few rounds, although it'll be interesting if he ends up playing djokovic.

Ljubicic has bad luck drawing Fish in the first round, but if he gets past him then it doesn't look too bad. Baghdatis looks to have an appalling draw, i can't see him emulating his successes of last year, although I really hope he can do well.

I don't think Safin's draw is particularly good - meeting Roddick in the third round is never a good thing! I'd obviously love to see him beat Roddick, but i'm not going to hold my breath for him getting there (never a good idea as a Safin fan......)

Nalby doesn't appear to have the best draw - Tipsarevic, then Lappenti, then possibly grosjean and Haas, be interesting to see if he can get past all of those! Also Davydenko (if fit) has a pretty bad draw as well in my opinion - especially if he meets Malisse, and Malisse is still in good form. I'd also like to see Gonzalez do well, but i'm not sure that having to meet Hewitt early on will allow him to do that!

As for Nadal's draw - it's not the easiest in the world is it? Meeting Murray in the fourth round could well be the most interesting match for many of us, but I wouldn't be totally sure both of them will make it!

Apologies if i've got any of the potential matches wrong - i'm trying to do way too many things at once, and just not concentrating properly.....

Hey Jo! :hug:

All makes sense to me.. being a guy, of course, the multitasking that you seem to be currently doing is of course a somewhat alien concept! :lol:

I've missed out a few of the other favourites I think....it actually took me ages to realise there was another page to the draw roflmao sometimes i can be so unbelievably stupid!!!

Murray doesn't seem to have the best draw at all (now i've looked at it properly) does he? I can't see that he's going to get that far - but does he have any points to defend?

roflmao it is quite a big draw, after all!

In my bleary-eyed posting at about 12-1am this morning I had written a bit about Murray's draw stating that he could be playing Gonzo.. before I realised that I had got the draw pairings wrong.. :doh:

I do actually think that the early rounds of Murray's draw is quite tricky, in spite of the beeb report thinking that it was kind to him.. although am intrigued by Flame's desire to see him in a fist fight against Nadal :huh: I'm not sure if I can see him taking 3 sets off him..

alan mackin is looking good for a place in the main draw. up a break in a decider against luzzi. let's see if i can hex him, lol.

mackin win 6-4 in the decider. well done young man.