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Federer faces tricky start to gold quest
Thursday, 7 August, 2008
Outgoing world number one Roger Federer faces a tricky Olympic opener against muscular Russian Dmitri Tursunov after the draw was made on Thursday.
But there are likely to be no problems for Rafael Nadal, soon to replace Federer as the top men's player, who was matched against Potito Starace of Italy.
Top women's seed Ana Ivanovic eases in against Ukraine's Mariya Koryttseva but the Serb will be eyeing a quarter-final match-up against Serena Williams.
Second seed Jelena Jankovic opens against Cara Black of Zimbabwe but will keep close tabs on Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, her possible semi-final opponent.
The 35th-ranked Tursunov won his fourth career tournament in Sydney this year and was runner-up in Indianapolis last month.
But Federer will at least be familiar with his powerful game after they played a practice match in Beijing on Wednesday.
The Swiss star also holds a 2-0 career advantage over the Russian while Nadal has won all of his four meetings with Starace and has yet to drop a set against the Italian.
Source: AAP
