AO MAIN DRAW The main draw for AO 2004 is out. Once again JC has not been blessed by the draw gods. Some notable hard-hitters on his quarter of the draw are Popp, Mirnyi, Philippoussis, Verkerk and Coria.
JC's first opponent will be Albert Montanes (ESP)
>> main draw (html)
>> download (pdf)
ARTICLE Tough start for top seeds
by Murray Brust
Friday, January 16, 2004
A number of the men's seeds have drawn tough first-round opponents for Australian Open 2004, with the prospect of some enthralling match-ups between high-profile players as early as the second and third rounds.
Top seed and world No.1 Andy Roddick has drawn Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who reached the fourth-round at Melbourne Park in 2002.
Should Roddick progress to the third-round, his likely opponent is No.27 seed and fellow American Taylor Dent.
The draw fell much more kindly for No.2 seed Roger Federer of Switzerland - at least in the early rounds. He will play a qualifier first up and then either Dutchman Dennis Van Scheppingen or another qualifier next.
However should the seeds progress, Federer faces a third-round clash with two-time Australian Open quarter-finalist Jonas Bjorkman, of Sweden, and then an enticing fourth-round encounter with No.15 seed Lleyton Hewitt.
Hewitt, who has also drawn a qualifier in the first-round, would welcome the chance to reprise their classic Davis Cup semi-final match of three months ago, which saw the Australian come back from two sets and a break down to win the match and seal the tie.
Defending champion Andre Agassi, the No.4 seed, begins his campaign for a record fifth Australian Open title against Australian wildcard Todd Larkham, who faced an equally tough assignment last year when he played Hewitt in the second-round.
Should Agassi progress, his third-round opponent could be either No.29 Vince Spadea or 1999 runner-up Thomas Enqvist, of Sweden, who meet each other first up.
Also in the top half of the draw, No.7 Carlos Moya has a tough first-round assignment against American James Blake, No.9 Sebastien Grosjean faces Russian Mikhail Youzhny, No.12 Nicolas Massu of Chile is up against Finn Jarkko Nieminen, while No.16 Sjeng Schalken has drawn a qualifier.
Meanwhile No.6 Rainer Schuettler sits at the bottom of the second quarter of the draw, leading to the possibility of a rematch of last year's final against Agassi at the quarter-final stage.
In the bottom half, No.10 seed and local hope Mark Philippoussis has drawn 2002 champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden, who didn't play at all in 2003 after having surgery on his left knee last February.
Spanish No.3 Juan Carlos Ferrero faces countryman Albert Montanes first up with the prospect of a third-round clash with promising countryman, No.28 Feliciano Lopez.
No.5 Guillermo Coria of Argentina has drawn Frenchman Cyril Saulnier, with his most likely third-round opponent No.26 Albert Costa, while fellow-Argentine David Nalbandian (No.8) will open his campaign against a qualifier.
British No.11 seed Tim Henman will face Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard in the first-round, with Argentine No.22 Agustin Calleri or his countryman Guillermo Canas ahead of him, while Czech No.14 Jiri Novak and No.24 Max Mirnyi of Belarus are also likely to meet in the third-round.
Should the top eight seeds win through to the quarter finals, they would feature Roddick and Moya, Agassi and Schuettler, Coria and Ferrero and Nalbandian and Federer.
JC's first opponent will be Albert Montanes (ESP)
>> main draw (html)
>> download (pdf)
ARTICLE Tough start for top seeds
by Murray Brust
Friday, January 16, 2004
A number of the men's seeds have drawn tough first-round opponents for Australian Open 2004, with the prospect of some enthralling match-ups between high-profile players as early as the second and third rounds.
Top seed and world No.1 Andy Roddick has drawn Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who reached the fourth-round at Melbourne Park in 2002.
Should Roddick progress to the third-round, his likely opponent is No.27 seed and fellow American Taylor Dent.
The draw fell much more kindly for No.2 seed Roger Federer of Switzerland - at least in the early rounds. He will play a qualifier first up and then either Dutchman Dennis Van Scheppingen or another qualifier next.
However should the seeds progress, Federer faces a third-round clash with two-time Australian Open quarter-finalist Jonas Bjorkman, of Sweden, and then an enticing fourth-round encounter with No.15 seed Lleyton Hewitt.
Hewitt, who has also drawn a qualifier in the first-round, would welcome the chance to reprise their classic Davis Cup semi-final match of three months ago, which saw the Australian come back from two sets and a break down to win the match and seal the tie.
Defending champion Andre Agassi, the No.4 seed, begins his campaign for a record fifth Australian Open title against Australian wildcard Todd Larkham, who faced an equally tough assignment last year when he played Hewitt in the second-round.
Should Agassi progress, his third-round opponent could be either No.29 Vince Spadea or 1999 runner-up Thomas Enqvist, of Sweden, who meet each other first up.
Also in the top half of the draw, No.7 Carlos Moya has a tough first-round assignment against American James Blake, No.9 Sebastien Grosjean faces Russian Mikhail Youzhny, No.12 Nicolas Massu of Chile is up against Finn Jarkko Nieminen, while No.16 Sjeng Schalken has drawn a qualifier.
Meanwhile No.6 Rainer Schuettler sits at the bottom of the second quarter of the draw, leading to the possibility of a rematch of last year's final against Agassi at the quarter-final stage.
In the bottom half, No.10 seed and local hope Mark Philippoussis has drawn 2002 champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden, who didn't play at all in 2003 after having surgery on his left knee last February.
Spanish No.3 Juan Carlos Ferrero faces countryman Albert Montanes first up with the prospect of a third-round clash with promising countryman, No.28 Feliciano Lopez.
No.5 Guillermo Coria of Argentina has drawn Frenchman Cyril Saulnier, with his most likely third-round opponent No.26 Albert Costa, while fellow-Argentine David Nalbandian (No.8) will open his campaign against a qualifier.
British No.11 seed Tim Henman will face Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard in the first-round, with Argentine No.22 Agustin Calleri or his countryman Guillermo Canas ahead of him, while Czech No.14 Jiri Novak and No.24 Max Mirnyi of Belarus are also likely to meet in the third-round.
Should the top eight seeds win through to the quarter finals, they would feature Roddick and Moya, Agassi and Schuettler, Coria and Ferrero and Nalbandian and Federer.
