Federer faces tricky test in Madrid opener

The 11th edition of the Mutua Madrid Open, the fourth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, returns for the fourth year at the state-of-the art Caja Magica (Magic Box). The 56-player field  features 16 of the Top 20 players in the South African Airways ATP Rankings.

Roger Federer has a tricky opening round match against the winner of big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic and former World No. 3 David Nalbandian. Federer’s seeded opponent in the third round is No. 14 Richard Gasquet. Federer is 30-8 lifetime in Madrid and the past six years he’s reached the semi-finals or better, including runner-up showings in ’07 and ’10. In the quarter-finals, possible seeded opponents are Spaniards No. 5 seed David Ferrer and No. 11 Nicolas Almagro.

In the semi-finals Federer could meet Novak Djokovic and in the finals it would be Rafael Nadal.

Date: 05.05.2012, Source: ATP