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Federer, Nadal drawn in same half for Shanghai Rolex Masters
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DEFENDING champion Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were drawn in the same half for the 2015 Shanghai Rolex Masters, while the Chinese players face big hurdles from the first round of matches itself.
The draw ceremony of the ATP 1000 tournament was held near Shanghai’s Bund on Saturday morning. World No. 1 and top seed Novak Djokovic and the tournament’s third seed Andy Murray were drawn in the same pool along with Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Gilles Simon.
The other half features Federer, Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Milos Roanic.
The top eight seeded players will have first-round byes. Three Chinese players received wildcards – Zhang Ze, Wu Di, Bai Yan, along with Germany's Tommy Haas.
Zhang Ze will take on Martin Klizan in his first-round match. If the world No. 219 ranked Chinese player manages to get past the world No. 42 ranked Slovakian, he will play world No. 1 Novak Djokovic for the second time in just over a week. Zhang lost to Djokovic 2-6, 1-6 at the China Open second round match on Thursday.
Zhang, who was at the Qizhong Tennis Center for the Shanghai Rolex Masters Kinder Day to interact with young tennis fans, was in a more relaxed mood. The 25-year-old said he would focus on the first match and try and win it before thinking of the match against Djokovic.
The Serb is still in Beijing, where he will play Ferrer in the semifinals of the China Open later today.
Djokovic could likely face the seventh seeded Spaniard Ferrer or Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals in Shanghai.
Another Chinese wildcard player Bai Yan will challenge Argentine Leonardo Mayer in the first round, while local boy Wu Di faces a tough act against 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic.
"I’m sweating after seeing the draw," said Wu, who attended the ceremony. “This is a test. Of course I want to win matches, but there is surely going to be a lot of pressure.”
"All Chinese players have a chance (to advance in the tournament), but it depends on who is in a better form,” said Wu. Wu is in the same half as Nadal, who is also in Beijing for the China Open.
Federer has chosen to play only one tournament in Asia - the Shanghai Rolex Masters. He arrived on Friday evening. The Swiss, who is very popular with the local fans, also has Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Kevin Anderson in his half.
The qualifying rounds started today at Minhang’s Qizhong Tennis Center with the first round of matches scheduled for Sunday.
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