California plays host to the first Masters 1000 tournament of the year. 96 players will take part in the mens singles event with all the top players taking part. World number one Novak Djokovic is the defending champion and it was here last year he began his streak of wins against world number two Rafael Nadal. Former three time champion Roger Federer will look to continue his good form after winning in Dubai last week and Rotterdam before that while '09 finalist Andy Murray will be looking to avenge last weeks defeat to Federer by going one step further. The main challengers to the top four will be David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Thomas Berdych and Juan Martin Del Potro who all have chances of going deep into the tournament. Flying the flag for America will be Mardy Fish, John Isner and 30th seed Andy Roddick who will be cautiously optimistic after beating Roger Federer in an exhibition at the start of the week. Yesterday's draw provided some very interesting ties with quality players in every section. So let's take a look at the draw starting with the top half which is divided into four sections.
Novak Djokovic has been given a difficult task if he is to get back to winning ways this week. He faces a qualifier first and shouldn't face any problem with whoever that turns out to be but he faces a likely third round clash with last week's Delray Beach winner Kevin Anderson, should he overcome Philip Kohlschreiber in his first match. Dangerous frenchman Richard Gasquet could await in the fourth round although he could face a tricky tie with Robin Haase who is likely to relish the hard courts in Florida. Haase should upset Florian Mayer in round two simply because Mayer doesn't have great form while Haase has a huge serve that is likely to get him enough cheap points to progress in the early rounds. Gasquet should have the ability to then beat Haase and face Djokovic in the fourth round.
The second quarter of the top half sees Thomas Berdych as the favourite to meet Djokovic in the quarter finals and I do think he will be the one to make it there despite the threat posed by third round opponent Andy Roddick. I don't think Roddick has got enough to take down the Czech and Berdych is in great form and now consistently competing with the very best. Nicolas Almagro and Kei Nishikori are likely to battle it out for the right to face Berdych in round four and I would see the in form Almagro as the more likely of those two.
The third quarter of the top half contains the top two Americans as John Isner and Mardy Fish are on course to meet in round four and with all due respect to the others in the section they shouldn't face any real problems before meeting each other. Juan Monaco would have a better chance if it was on clay and Julien Benneteau doesn't have enough firepower to compete with Isner's power or Fish's serve and volley. Andreas Seppi might cause one or two problems for Fish if he isn't on his game but I don't see him losing early. Fish and Isner would be a very interesting clash and although Fish is a more mobile player I think Isner has got the game to beat him and progress to the quarter finals.
The final quarter of the top half is where Andy Murray lies. He faces an easy second round tie with either Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Rui Machado but faces a possible rematch with Ryan Harrison in round three after beating the American at the Australian Open earlier this year. Harrison faces Flavio Cipolla in round one and that will be a real struggle but I think he'll progress to face Victor Troicki and beat the 25th seed to meet Murray. Murray should again prevail from that clash but Harrison could take a set off the Scot. Murray would then face a tricky fourth round tie with either Stanislas Wawrinka or Gilles Simon, both of whom are very capable players. Simon is the more likely winner as he has more consistency than the Swiss number two.
The bottom half of the draw is much more competitive with in my opinion the best of the seeds apart from the top four. David Ferrer is in the first section and should continue his great form and make safe passage to the fourth round to face Juan Martin Del Potro. Neither player should be beaten early on with Ferrer likely to face Ivan Dodig and Denis Istomin while Del Potro is likely to take on Fernando Verdasco in the third round. Del Potro and Ferrer will be a fascinating game with both players playing great tennis this year and both being great competitors.
The next section sees Roger Federer face a very tricky task. A likely third round tie with Milos Raonic would be a great spectacle with rising star Raonic having already won two titles hits year on hard courts and possessing what this year has been the most effective serve on the tour. Federer will have to be at his very best to progress from that one. The winner of that one will face one of four dangerous players; Gael Monfils, Nikolay Davydenko, Thomas Bellucci or the recent Memphis winner Jurgen Melzer. I would imagine Monfils will be too good for the other three and Monfils is in need of a good start to the season and so should be very motivated this week.
The third section is very competitive with Tsonga looking to carry last years form into this year. He faces with Micael Llodra or Ernest Gulbis in his first match. Gulbis is coming into some form and I fancy him to make it through but Tsonga will have too much power for him in the second round. Radek Stepanek is seeded to meet him in the next round but I would be surprised if made it there. I think Xavier Malisse will continure his good run and beat Stepanek before falling short against Tsonga. The other side of Tsonga's section is very interesting with Janko Tipsarevic looking to get off to a good start in the Masters 1000 series this year. He faces a likely second round clash with Bernard Tomic which I don't think he will get through. I think Tomic has got too much creativity and variety for the Serb. The winner of that clash would face either David Nalbandian or Marin Cilic and on recent form that would have to be Nalbandian. Nalbandian and Tomic would be a very interesting clash as the young Aussie's game would be tested against the shot making ability of the ageing Argentine. Tipsarevic would probably have to much stamina for Nalbandian and would chase down everything thrown at him.
The final section of the draw is where we find Rafael Nadal, making his first appearance since his marathon match with Djokovic at the Australian Open. He opens witha probable clash with Alejandro Falla which will be a good chance for him to get rid of the rust he will no doubt have. Marcel Granollers is his seeded third round opponent but I would expect Tommy Haas to be the one to progress by beating Granollers. Exciting Ukranian Aleksandr Dolgopolov should be Nadals fourth round opponent as I would expect him to beat Feliciano Lopez or Marcos Baghdatis. Donald Young has got a habit of playing his best in front of his home crowd and if he gets on a roll he may well cause Dolgopolov trouble but I would still fancy Dolgopolov to progress.
Looking ahead to potential quarter finals and although it is very difficult to discuss without seeing any of the first few matches I will give my opinion on who I think will be there. I would fully expect Thomas Berdych to make the quarters to face Djokovic and I think the Czech could cause some real problems for the Serb but it's very tough to go against Djokovic and so I expect to see Djokovic to make the semi finals. Andy Murray is a player I struggle to predict with. Last week I thought we would see the defensive Murray and so I thought Berdych would win but he played very aggressively and even beat a below par Djokovic but then we saw a very negative Murray against Federer and so depending on what Murray we see this week he could go very far. If he plays aggressive then he may well make the semis to meet Djokovic again but if not then John Isner is going all the way to the semis. Isner will beat Murray for sure if he doesn't play aggressive and if Mardy Fish beats Isner then it may not matter how Murray plays as Fish has the game to beat Murray as he's shown before. I'm a huge Del Potro fan and I think he will return to the very top of the game this year and it starts this week with a strong showing. I think he'll beat Ferrer (just) and progress to the quarters. Who he will face is puzzling me. Federer is the obvious choice but I do believe Milos Raonic is going to break top ten very soon and start beating the best. Federer played last week and won't have had a lot of time to prepare while Raonic took last week off after an impressive three weeks in a row. Going with my head I would say Federer will progress and face Del Potro where I think the Argentine will end his poor run against the Swiss maestro to make the semis. That said i'm still going to say watch out for Raonic and Federer as the Canadian is going to give Fed a very tough game if not beat him Tsonga is my choice to make quarters from his section but I would keep an eye on both Tomic and Tipsarevic as they both have potential to go far. Nadal is my choice to face Tsonga where Tsonga will be optimistic of beating a rusty Nadal but the fight the Spaniard shows over and over again is undeniable and I think he'll make the semi finals. I'm looking at a Nadal-Del Potro semi final and I think Nadal will overcome the lack of match practice to beat the in form Argentine. I do think Djokovic will be in the final this week. Like I said a few weeks ago the intensity would have been down from Djokovic and Murray took advantage of that last week but we won't have that this week. Djokovic should be firing on all cylinders and looking to start taking the big titles from the very start of the season. If we do get a rematch of Nadal and Djokovic in the final then we will have another epic encounter. I think both players have so much on the line when they play that they bring the best out of each other. Djokovic needs to continue to beat Nadal at every opportunity as a loss would give Nadal such a mental boost he would truly believe he could win anything. Nadal felt he overcame the mental obstacle of beating Novak in Melbourne and will be hoping to prove it this week. I hope we do get another meeting of the two, simply for the exhibition of tennis they always produce. Federer and Del Potro may have a say in this weeks winner to and with the slightest things going their way they could be in the final very easily. Murray has a chance if reproduces the aggression from last week while players like Berdych, Ferrer, Tsonga, Isner and Fish would need a lot to go their way to win the tournament but are capable of upsetting the top players and going deep. Can Djokovic get back to winning ways? Can Murray beat the Serb again? Can Federer continue his run of wins? Is Del Potro going to get to the very top of the game? and is Nadal going to end Djokovic's hold over him? We may well find this week gives us an indicator to the answer to all those questions. It should be a fascinating week of tennis.
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