Western & Southern Financial Group Masters
Place: Cincinnati, Ohio
Date: August 15-21, 2005
Draw Size: 64
Surface: Hard
Prize Money: $2,200,000
Tournament Director: Bruce Flory
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Federer begins his campaign for a fourth ATP Masters Series title this year (Indian Wells, Miami, Hamburg) when he takes on wild card entry James Blake in the first round. Federer is in action for the first time since winning the Wimbledon championship in June, while Blake is coming off a finals appearance at the Legg Mason Classic last week.
Federer could face No. 14 seed Ivan Ljubicic in the Round of 16, No. 8 seed Gaston Gaudio in the quarterfinals and No. 4 seed Marat Safin or No. 7 seed Andre Agassi in the semifinals.
Defending champion Andre Agassi is bidding for his fourth Masters Series title in Cincinnati (1995, 1996, 2004) when he meets 2002 champ Carlos Moya in the first round. This will be the second time two former champions have faced each other in the first round. In 1984, Jimmy Connors (1972) defeated Roscoe Tanner (1976) 6-1, 6-3.
Agassi is seeded here for the 13th time, the most of any player in the tournament's history. His best ATP Masters Series results this year have come in Miami and Rome where he reached the semifinals.
Second seeded Rafael Nadal meets the Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych in the first round -- a rematch of their final in Bastad that Nadal won 2-6, 6-2, 6-4. After that match, Berdych said he hoped to play Nadal on a hard court soon.
Andy Roddick, the 2003 champion here, has a perfect 4-0 head-to-head mark against his first round opponent Austrian Jurgen Melzer. He is looking for his first Masters Series title this year and could face Nadal in the quarterfinals. Roddick won their only previous hard court meeting in straight sets at the 2004 US Open, but will be looking to avenge his Davis Cup loss to the Spaniard later that year.
In other exciting opening round action, No. 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko faces Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean; wild card entry Robby Ginepri takes on 2005 Roland Garros finalist Mariano Puerta; wild card entry Andy Murray meets American Taylor Dent and No. 8 seed Gaston Gaudio goes up against Tommy Robredo in a rematch of their meeting in Montreal's Round of 16 that Gaudio took 6-3, 7-6(0).