Monte Carlo c'est parti!

Nadal Chases Historic Fourth Straight Title

Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal leads the first clay ATP Masters Series tournament of the year. The 21-year-old Spaniard, who has defeated rival Roger Federer the last two years in the final, makes his season debut on clay. Over the past three seasons Nadal has won 107 of 110 matches on clay with 17 titles.

While Nadal is a strong favorite to become the first player in tournament history to win the title four consecutive years and Federer is aiming for another final showing, a Spaniard has won the title in five of the last six years (except '04).

Federer comes into the tournament as the top seed for the fourth consecutive year. The Swiss superstar could face No. 6 seed and long-time rival David Nalbandian in the quarterfinals (tied 8-8) with the Argentine winning the last two meetings in 2007. But both players will have to win two rounds before getting to the quarters. Federer will open against a qualifier or Frenchman Gilles Simon and the first seed he could face is No. 15 Ivo Karlovic.

But the Croat will have his hands full with veteran Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, a two-time Monte Carlo semifinalist, in the first round. The Gael Monfils-Fernando Verdasco winner could also be a possible third round opponent. Nalbandian will take on the winner of Robin Soderling-Tommy Haas in his opening round match and possibly No. 12 Tommy Robredo in the third round (Nalbandian leads 3-2).

In the second quarter of the draw, No. 3 Novak Djokovic and No. 7 Richard Gasquet are the highest seeds. Djokovic, making his season debut on clay, will play the winner of former two-time champion Gustavo Kuerten-Ivan Ljubicic (Kuerten leads Ljubicic 5-1) in his opening round match. Djokovic could meet No. 14 seed Andy Murray (vs. Feliciano Lopez) in the third round.

Gasquet takes on the Andreas Seppi-Fabrice Santoro winner and the first seed he could play is No. 10 Carlos Moya (vs. Sam Querrey), the 1998 champion and '02 runner-up. Moya has a 26-11 career record in Monte Carlo but he's looking to break a three-match first round losing streak since reaching the semifinals in 2004.

In the bottom half of the draw (third section), Russians Nikolay Davydenko (No. 4) and Mikhail Youzhny (No. 8) are the highest seeds. Davydenko will open against the Nicolas Kiefer-Juan Ignacio Chela winner and could meet No. 16 and last year's quarterfinalist Philipp Kohlschreiber (vs. Jose Acasuso) in the third round. Youzhny will face either countryman Igor Andreev or Dmitry Tursunov in his opening round match and possibly No. 11 Juan Monaco or unseeded Nicolas Almagro in the third round.

In the last section, No. 2 Rafael Nadal could meet two countrymen in the later rounds. No. 13 seed and former two-time champion Juan Carlos Ferrero (Nadal leads 5-1) is a possible third round opponent and No. 5 David Ferrer (Nadal leads 4-3, including 3-1 on clay), a three-time Monte Carlo quarterfinalist, in the quarters. Nadal opens with a qualifier or wild card Mario Ancic (Nadal leads 2-1) while Ferrero takes on Michael Llodra. Ferrer meets the winner of wild card Marat Safin and Xavier Malisse and his first seeded opponent is No. 9 Paul-Henri Mathieu (vs. Janko Tipsarevic) in the third round.

Check out the draw! (PDF)