Nadal gets Murray, Federer gets Djokovic, Williams sisters apart

Four-time champion Rafael Nadal finds himself in Andy Murray’s half of the draw, while No2 seed Roger Federer is set to face clay specialists in the early rounds. In the women’s draw, the Williams sisters have been kept apart, while world No1 Dinara Safina seems to be in the slightly easier half of the draw. There was quite a crowd in the VIP lounge at Roland Garros on Friday morning at 11.30 as title-holders Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanovic conducted part of the draw for this year’s French Open. And as is often the case, the computer then went on to throw up some mouth-watering ties, some as early as the first round. Four-time champion Nadal will face a qualifier in the first round, before a possible third-round clash with either Lleyton Hewitt or No26 seed Ivo Karlovic, followed by David Ferrer (No14) and then any one of Nikolay Davydenko (No10), Stanislas Wawrinka (No17), Nicolas Almagro (No31) or Fernando Verdasco (No8) in the quarters. Federer given tough start No2 seed Roger Federer faces some tough ties in the opening week with clay specialists Alberto Martin and Jose Acasuso lying in wait in the opening two rounds. He will be pleased however to have avoided his current bête noire Andy Murray, with the Scottish No3 in the “Nadal” half of the draw. Murray will also face an adept of the red brick in the shape of Juan Ignacio Chela in the first round, and still needs to prove himself on this, the slowest of surfaces, particularly over five sets. 2007 and 2008 semi-finalist Novak Djokovic will begin his campaign against another member of the Spanish-speaking clay armada - Nicolas Lapentti – and should he get to the quarter-final, the man one place behind him in the rankings, Juan Martin Del Potro, could be his opponent (No5), provided that the Argentinean overcomes local hero Jo-Wilfried Tsonga before then. Of the American contingent, No22 seed Mardy Fish will open against unheralded Argentinean Maximo Gonzalez, Andy Roddick (No6) will face local youngster Romain Jouan, while James Blake (No15) will face either Tommy Haas or Andrei Pavel in the second round, provided he overcomes a qualifier first up. Safina avoids clay specialists World No1 Dinara Safina, who has won two titles this month already (in Rome and Madrid) should not be tested too much by Britain’s Anne Keothavong in the opening round. She has also been given the kinder half of the draw, with no big names liable to cross her path before a meeting with either defending champion Ana Ivanovic (who is a lowly No8 seed after struggling ever since winning here last year) or Victoria Azarenka (No9) in the quarter-finals. The Williams sisters are in separate halves of the draw, with Venus scheduled to meet Safina in a remake of their epic three-hour, three-set battle in Rome in the semi-finals. Serena (No2 seed) has the more clay-specialist half of the draw, with the likes of Flavia Pennetta (No14) due to face her in the Round of 16 and Svetlana Kuznetsova (No7) in the quarters. The third quarter of the draw will also be hotly contested, with Elena Dementieva (No4), Jelena Jankovic (No5), Caroline Wozniacki (No10) and Marion Bartoli (No13) all in that part of the bracket. Possible Round of 16 ties Men’s singles Nadal (No1) – Ferrer (No14) Davydenko (No10) – Verdasco (No8) Murray (No3) – Cilic (No13) Gonzalez (No12) – Simon (No7) Del Potro (No5) – Tsonga (No9) Robredo (No16) – Djokovic (No4) Roddick (No6) – Monfils (No11) Blake (No15) – Federer (No2) Women’s singles Safina (No1) – Zheng (No15) Azarenka (No9) – Ivanovic (No8) V. Williams (No3) – Mauresmo (No16) Petrova (No11) – Zvonareva (No6) Jankovic (No5) – Wozniacki (No10) Bartoli (No13) – Dementieva (No4) Kuznetsova (No7) – A. Radwanska (No12) Pennetta (No14) – S. Williams (No2)