Rome Masters Series Preview

The fourth Masters Series event of the season begins on Monday in Rome. For the past two years the Rome Final has produced the match of the past two seasons, Rafael Nadal was the victor on both occasions in five hour plus finals against Roger Federer (2006) and Guillermo Coria (2005) respectively. That won’t be the case this year, at least not of the five set variety as the final will be a best of three sets affair. Nadal looks to continue his phenomenal run on clay, while Federer is still in search of his first Masters title of the season, an unusual situation for him to find himself in. The draw has been made with one of the remaining question marks being where Guillermo Cañas (a likely qualifier) will end up in the draw, there are four spots available in the top half (Federer) and three in the bottom half (Nadal).

Testing quarter for Federer
Largely unimpressive in Monte Carlo, the world number one still reached the final without dropping a set. A similar vein of form may not yield the same results this time around. Rome is the scene of where Federer came as close as he has ever done to defeating Nadal on clay and he’ll be hoping to reproduce that level of play this time around. Federer’s first opponent is likely to be Nicolas Almagro, both players met in Rome last year at the quarter final stage with Federer progressing in three sets, 7-5 in the third. Almagro was a non-factor in Monte Carlo, having to retire against Tomas Berdych after defending his title in Valencia. Federer would have hoped for a less demanding opponent to begin his campaign. Should Federer progress he may well run into Richard Gasquet (3rd round) and Tomas Berdych or Jose Acasuso (quarter-final). The potential is there for Federer to be well tested if and when he reaches the final.

The Americans have arrived
Having skipped Monte Carlo, Rome sees the return of the two top ten Americans – Andy Roddick and James Blake. Neither will be expected to be a factor in the event and both have been drawn in the same quarter. One of the standout matches of the first round pits Igor Andreev against David Ferrer. Both players will feel that surviving their first round encounter could well propel them to the last four of the tournament. Two players in desperate need of form and confidence are Gael Monfils and Fernando Gonzalez. Monfils has a semi-final to defend from last year with the chances of him doing so being remote to say the least. Gonzalez has been in poor form ever since the Australian Open, but has a draw that will encourage him to believe he at least has a good chance to reach the last eight.

Could Cañas land here?
Three of the seven qualifier spots are placed in the third quarter of the draw. It may well be that Cañas ends up in the quarter and would be the favourite to come through it. This section of the draw is filled with a number of players who will believe that on their day they will have as much chance of coming through it as any other. These names include; Tommy Robredo, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Murray, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Agustin Calleri, Marat Safin and Nikolay Davydenko. Hewitt and Murray have no matches on clay behind them this season and it remains to be seen how they perform. Safin, although with the ability to beat anyone on his day, has not had many of “his days” in a long while and there is little reason to believe that will change here. Davydenko, like Gonzalez, has been in poor form also and no longer playing with the consistency that has served him so well for the past two seasons. On paper, Tommy Robredo appears well placed to come through this section, although Ferrero and Calleri are more than capable of taking on that mantle too.

72 and counting…
Rafael Nadal fears no player on clay; he certainly won’t fear the draw he has received in pursuit of his third successive Rome Masters title. It’s hard to see any player in his quarter challenging him to a great extent and it will be a major shock should Nadal not be in the final, or indeed lifting the trophy. The best of the rest in the bottom quarter is headed by Novak Djokovic. Other notable names include former French Open champion, Carlos Moya, and a recent nemesis of Nadal away from clay, Mikhail Youzhny.

Sports Magician will be reviewing events in Rome upon the conclusion of the tournament.