sseemiller
Rookie
They have to play each other in the first round. Yikes! And I'm not to happy about Rafa's draw either. Anyway, I haven't seen the actual draw, but here's the info from Eurosport. It's a pretty world-class field:
Roger defends Dubai title
World number one Roger Federer faces a tough task when he begins the defence of his Dubai Open title on Monday with an opening round match against his Australian Open final opponent Marat Safin. Top seed Federer beat Safin, a wildcard entry in Dubai, in straight sets in January to claim his second gram slam title after Wimbledon.
Even if he gets past the big-serving Russian again, the Swiss faces another daunting challenge in the quarter-finals, where he can expect to face Tim Henman.
The Britain has won six of their seven meetings, most recently in the quarter-finals of the World Indoor Tournament in Rotterdam this month, with his only loss coming when he retired from the match through injury.
Henman plays a qualifier in the first round.
In other first-round matches Max Mirnyi takes on teenager Rafael Nadal, with the winner likely to face fifth seed and Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis.
Second seed Guillermo Coria will play Mikhail Youzhny and could meet Philippoussis in the last eight, and third seed David Nalbandian plays Jarkko Niemenen with a possible quarter-final against eighth seed Sjeng Schalken in prospect.
Fourth seed Rainer Schuettler, who lost his first three matches of the year and then fell to Lleyton Hewitt in the Rotterdam quarter-finals, plays a qualifier, with a quarter-final clash with Paradorn Srichaphan a possibility.
Roger defends Dubai title
World number one Roger Federer faces a tough task when he begins the defence of his Dubai Open title on Monday with an opening round match against his Australian Open final opponent Marat Safin. Top seed Federer beat Safin, a wildcard entry in Dubai, in straight sets in January to claim his second gram slam title after Wimbledon.
Even if he gets past the big-serving Russian again, the Swiss faces another daunting challenge in the quarter-finals, where he can expect to face Tim Henman.
The Britain has won six of their seven meetings, most recently in the quarter-finals of the World Indoor Tournament in Rotterdam this month, with his only loss coming when he retired from the match through injury.
Henman plays a qualifier in the first round.
In other first-round matches Max Mirnyi takes on teenager Rafael Nadal, with the winner likely to face fifth seed and Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis.
Second seed Guillermo Coria will play Mikhail Youzhny and could meet Philippoussis in the last eight, and third seed David Nalbandian plays Jarkko Niemenen with a possible quarter-final against eighth seed Sjeng Schalken in prospect.
Fourth seed Rainer Schuettler, who lost his first three matches of the year and then fell to Lleyton Hewitt in the Rotterdam quarter-finals, plays a qualifier, with a quarter-final clash with Paradorn Srichaphan a possibility.
