The $1,500,000 Dubai Duty Free Men's Open kicks off on monday 26th February and this year promises to be a very exciting event following the draw which was released today.

Roger Federer (1) v Kristian Pless

Qualifier v Daniele Bracciali

Qualifier v Qualifier

Kristof Vliegen v Novak Djokovic (7)

Nikolay Davydenko (3) v Qualifier

Hyung-taik Lee v Olivier Rochus

Florent Serra v Jonas Bjorkman

Radek Stepanek v Tommy Haas (5)

David Ferrer (8) v Robin Soderling

Omar Bahrouzyan v Dominik Hrbaty

Phillip Kohlschreiber v Gilles Simon

Fabrice Santoro v Tommy Robredo (4)

Thomas Berdych (6) v Mohammed Al Ghareeb

Mikhail Youzhny v Jarrko Nieminen

Igor Andreev v Marc Gicquel

Marcos Baghdatis v Rafael Nadal (2) 

The first round match that leaps out from the screen is the one at the very bottom of the draw; Nadal v Baghdatis. What a first round that should be! This is a very unfortunate draw for the Cypriot who just missed out on being seeded, being the next highest ranked player after Ferrer who is seeded 8. Nadal who beat Baghdatis in the semi-finals of Wimbledon last year, leads their head-to-head 2-0.

Should Nadal come through that match he will face most probably either Mikael Youzhny who beat him at the US Open last year, or nemesis Berdych who famously beat Nadal at Madrid last year before annoying both Nadal and the Spanish fans with his "Shhh" gesture; provocatively placing a finger to his lips.

Roger Federer's section by comparison looks much easier and he should breeze into the semi-finals without much fuss. Of course, Djokovic will have something to say about that should they meet in the quarterfinals, but so far Federer has his number.

With this draw, Federer looks odds on favourite to reclaim the title that he has already won three times in a row; 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Andre Jones

Dubai