The 2007 Studena Croatia Open boasts one of its strongest fields ever with six players ranked inside the top 20 competing for the coveted title and a lion's share of the €353,450 total prize money purse.

The top seed and local favourite Novak Djokovic whose Belgrade home is just a few hours drive away from this idyllic seaside resort, will be hoping to cast aside the memories of last year when he was forced to retire in the final against Stanislas Wawrinka. The 20 year old Serb who is having a very successful year and riding high in the ATP rankings at 3, is the favourite to lift the title this year, but will face very tough opposition once he reaches the quarterfinal stage where he is likely to face his friend and compatriot Janko Tipsarevic, seeded 8.

Should he come through that testing encounter, his next opponent will in all likelihood be another friend, the top ranked Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, seeded 3, who will bring a carnival atmosphere to the derby-like match assuming he can first see off Filippo Volandri, seeded 7, in the quarters. A Serb versus Croat contest could spark fireworks among rival supporters, but hopefully all the fireworks will be confined to the court.

The bottom half of the draw looks equally competitive with the second seeded Nikolay Davydenko taking on dangerous floater Gilles Simon of France in the opening round. The Russian is eventually likely to have a repeat of the bruising Roland Garros encounter with Guillermo Canas, seeded 5, in the quarterfinals. The two faced-off at the French Open quarterfinals last month, with Davydenko finally prevailing after over 4 hours of punishing tennis.

The defending champion Wawrinka, coming in as a wildcard this year after losing early in Gstaad, is in top form once again having just reached the final of Stuttgart where he lost to the King of clay, Rafael Nadal. The quiet, unassuming Swiss number 2 has a tough opener with Umag veteran and former champion Carlos Moya, seeded 6 this year. A possible quarterfinal with the fourth seeded David Ferrer, a recent winner in Bastad, will be the likely reward for the winner of that opening encounter.

First round matches involving seeded players

Novak Djokovic(1) v Pablo Andujar(q)

Nikolay Davydenko(2) v Gilles Simon

Ivan Ljubicic(3) v Andrei Pavel

David Ferrer(4) v Albert Montanes

Guillermo Canas(5) v Roko Karanusic(wc)

Carlos Moya(6) v Stanislas Wawrinka(wc)

Filippo Volandri(7) v Lukas Dlouhy

Janko Tipsarevic(8) v Victor Hanescu

Andre Jones

ITC Stella Maris

Umag