Federer Faces Daunting Draw At Australian Open

© Getty ImagesRoger Federer is aiming to win his fourth Australian Open title.

Reigning ATP World Tour Champion Roger Federer has reached the semi-finals at a record 22 straight Grand Slam tournaments – 12 more than previous record-holder Ivan Lendl – but the Swiss will have his work cut out for him over the next Australian Open fortnight in order to keep the record intact.

View Complete Draw

Following the completion of the draw ceremony Friday morning in Melbourne, the contenders in Federer’s top quarter of the draw have been revealed: Nikolay Davydenko, who comes in with a nine-match winning streak and confidence riding high; Fernando Verdasco, who lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal last year in an epic five-set semi-final; Marcos Baghdatis, the runner-up to Federer in 2006; and three former World No. 1 players in Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya.

Federer, who opens against Russian Igor Andreev, could potentially face Australian title hope Hewitt in the fourth round. Davydenko’s road to the quarter-finals will first come through a qualifier, then potentially Moya in the second round and Verdasco or Ferrero in the fourth.

Should Federer and Davydenko meet in the quarter-finals, this would be the third straight tournament that the pair would be facing off. After jumping out to a 12-0 lead in the head-to-head series, Federer has dropped his past two match against the Russian – in the semi-finals of last November’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and again last week at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Davydenko also defeated World No. 2 Nadal en route to the title wins at both of those tournaments.

DEUCE: The Man Who Can No Longer Be Ignored

DEUCE: Rogers' Records To Stand Test Of Time

In the bottom quarter of the draw, defending champion Nadal and World No. 5 Andy Murray are slated for a quarter-final fight. Nadal holds a 7-2 lead in the head-to-head series, including a five-set win in the fourth round of the Australian Open three years ago.

The first seed Nadal could face is No. 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, a semi-finalist this week in Auckland, in the third round. He could then potentially meet recent Brisbane finalist Radek Stepanek, the No. 13 seed, or 24th-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic in the fourth round. Meanwhile, the seeded opponents in Murray's eighth of the draw include No. 12 Gael Monfils, No. 17 David Ferrer and No. 28 Jurgen Melzer.

Past Australian Open champion and World No. 3 Novak Djokovic is in the second quarter of the draw, arguably the most favourable section of the 128-man field, and opens against Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver. The first seed Djokovic could meet is No. 32 Jeremy Chardy and he is slated to meet either No. 16 Tommy Robredo or No. 20 Mikhail Youzhny in the fourth round, although Youzhny has his work cut out in the first round with a clash against this week’s Sydney finalist Richard Gasquet.

Also in the second quarter of the draw, No. 8 seed and 2009 Roland Garros runner-up Robin Soderling is on course for a fourth-round clash with 2008 Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No. 10 seed. Although, American Taylor Dent and three-time Australian Open semi-finalist Tommy Haas, the No. 18 seed, will both look to upset Tsonga in the earlier stages.

World No. 4 Juan Martin del Potro, who joined the Grand Slam champions club with victory at the US Open (d. Federer), is the highest seed in the third quarter of the draw and could face an intriguing second-round clash against former Top 10 member James Blake, a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2008 (l. to Federer). In a tough section of the draw, del Potro could also come up against No. 14 seed Marin Cilic in the fourth round, should the Chennai champion finish the Grand Slam career of Fabrice Santoro in the first round, while No. 19 and last week’s Chennai runner-up Stanislas Wawrinka may also lie in wait.

No. 7 seed and four-time Australian Open semi-finalist Andy Roddick heads up the third quarter of the draw and could meet 2007 finalist and No. 11 seed Fernando Gonzalez in a blockbuster fourth-round clash. The 27-year-old Roddick, looking to add to his solitary Grand Slam championship that came at the 2003 US Open, could face fellow American and No. 25 seed Sam Querrey in a testing third-round match up, while Gonzalez will need to surpass Czech Tomas Berdych, who has been in strong form early in 2010.

Buy Tickets for the Australian Open