The $6.9 million Sony Ericsson Open is underway here at Crandon Park, Key Biscayne where the male and female players will be in action over the next 12 days to win arguably the most coveted title outside of the four grand slams.

This highly successful combined tournament which attracts all the leading players, will be sporting some avante garde purple courts for the first time to add to the vast colour of this prestigious event.

Defending champions Roger Federer (1) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (3) will be looking to successfully retain their titles which they won so impressively against Ivan Ljubicic (7) and Maria Sharapova (1) respectively last year.

Federer who lost in the first round of Indian Wells to Guillermo Canas will be particularly determined to hold onto the second Masters Series of the year for a third successive time. The world number 1 will be keen not to lose any momentum going into the clay court season with another dominant display here in Miami. His section of the draw looks very promising; a second round match with Russian Igor Andreev or US sophomore Sam Querry followed by a possible third round encounter with clay courter Nicolas Almagro is unlikely to worry the Swiss ace. Federer is in the same quarter as Richard Gasquet (15) and the in-form Tommy Haas (9), and is scheduled to meet Russian workhorse Nikolay Davydenko (4) in the semi-finals.

Rafael Nadal (2) having won his first title of the year at Indian Wells will be trying to follow Federer's footsteps in doing the Indian Wells - Key Biscayne double (Federer '05,'06). The world number 2 is in the same quarter however as nemesis's Mikael Youzhny (16) and James Blake (8) who he is scheduled to face in the 4^th round and quarterfinals respectively. Also in his quarter is the man he beat in the final of the Pacific Life Open, Novak Djokovic (10), who has entered the top 10 for the first time at the age of 19. The Serbian star who is heading inexorably to the very top could face Blake in the 4^th round for the right to play Nadal in the quarters.

The other bottom quarter also looks interesting with Andy Roddick (3), Andy Murray (12), Lleyton Hewitt (18) and Fernando Gonzalez (5) all in contention to come through. Murray who is at a career high of 12 could face Hewitt in the 3^rd round, with the winner possibly going on to face Gonzalez in round 4. The scheduled opponent for the person coming through that section is the third seeded Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. The top ranked American, champion here in 2004, is still looking for his first title since winning the Cincinnati Masters event in August last year. He will be hoping for one of Nadal's nemeses's to take him out having failed to make an impression against the relentless Spaniard at Indian Wells. On the other hand, perhaps after fine tuning his game and his game plan, Roddick under the watchful eye of his coach Jimmy Connors will be relishing the opportunity to get his revenge on Nadal in another semi-final showdown.

Maria Sharapova may be the top seed, but she is no longer the world number 1 after her miserable performance in Indian Wells which saw her crash out early to compatriot Vera Zvonareva. Here at Key Biscayne, her hellish draw is riddled with Williams sisters. She is likely to face Venus in round 3, with the winner scheduled to face-off with Serena in the 4^th round. Sharapova will just have to hope that she will not have to face both sisters as very few have survived such an ordeal to tell the tale.

World number 1 Justine Henin who is seeded 2 has a much kinder draw. Her first test could come in the 4^th round where she may face the in-form Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova who has just won Indian Wells for the second time. Her projected quarterfinal opponent is Nadia Petrova (6), although Dinara Safina (10) could well come through instead.

Defending champion Kuznetsova (3) could face promising Israeli Shahar Peer (14) in the 4^th round, with a possible quarterfinal encounter with Martina Hingis (5).

Kim Clijsters (4) who is playing this event for the last time, will be hoping to leave with the silverware as she did so very impressively in 2005. However, she is in the same half as nemesis Henin who has won their most recent encounters decisively and is likely to do so again should they meet in the semi-finals.

Andre Jones

Crandon Park

Key Biscayne