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Last year’s finalists of the tournament in Rome (Rafael Nadal & Novak Djokovic)
The draw has been revealed for Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the fourth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in 2010.
Second-seeded Novak Djokovic has a first-round BYE. He will begin his campaign against world no.46 Frenchman Jeremy Chardy who defeated Novak’s countryman, world no.38 Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4.
The 22-year-old Serb and Chardy have met three times, Nole leads 3-0.
“I’m more confident after Monte Carlo despite the loss to Verdasco in the semis,” the Serb smiled. “I played my first three matches there the exact way that I wanted to. The Davis Cup (in early March when he played a mammoth nine sets) took it out of me, and I lost my rhythm when I got onto the US hard courts. I like clay and I’m glad to be back here.”
Novak’s potential opponents in the later stages of the tournament are:
3rd round: John Isner (USA,14)
Quarter-finals: Fernando Verdasco (ESP,6), Mikhail Youzhny (RUS,9), Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
Semi-finals: Andy Murray (GBR,4), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA,7), Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP,12), David Ferrer (ESP,13), Viktor Troicki (SRB)
Finals: Roger Federer (SUI,1), Rafael Nadal (ESP,3), Robin Soderling (SWE,5), Marin Cilic (CRO,8)…
Novak was champion of Rome in 2008, and last year he lost to Rafael Nadal in the finals. On his way to the final the best Serbian tennis player defeated Albert Montanes, Tommy Robredo, Juan Martin Del Potro and Roger Federer.
The second of three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments contested on clay will be played in the capital of Italy for the total prize money of € 2,750,000. The winner will get €434,000 and 1000 ATP points.
