RICKY DIMON LOOKS OVER THE MIAMI OPEN TENNIS DRAW: ROGER FEDERER IS IN NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S HALF & ROGER MIGHT PLAY JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO IN THE SECOND ROUND

Written by: Staff on 21st March 2016

RICKY DIMON LOOKS OVER THE MIAMI OPEN TENNIS DRAW: ROGER FEDERER IS IN NOVAK DJOKOVIC'S HALF & ROGER MIGHT PLAY JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO IN THE SECOND ROUND |

Welcome back, Roger. #MiamiOpen #Federer – Photo by @miamiopen via Instagram.

The Miami Open draw ceremony took place on Monday afternoon and it produced an especially intriguing path through the bracket for Roger Federer. After missing all of February and the BNP Paribas Open because of a knee injury, Federer is returning in Miami and his first match could come against Juan Martin Del Potro.

Federer awaits the winner of an all-Argentine affair between Del Potro and Guido Pella. The 34-year-old Swiss could then run into either Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Muller, or Jeremy Chardy in the third round. A possible opponent in the round of 16 is Indian Wells semifinalist David Goffin. Federer will begin his fortnight on Friday afternoon, meaning his second match (in round three) would come on Sunday.

David Ferrer, who also missed the Indian Wells Masters, is the other top-eight seed in Federer’s quarter of the draw. If the seedings hold to form through to the quarterfinals, the following matchups would be in the offing: Novak Djokovic vs. Tomas Berdych, Stan Wawrinka vs. Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray vs. Kei Nishikori.

The Wawrinka-Nadal section also includes John Isner, Milos Raonic, and Nick Kyrgios. Isner appeared to be in line for a deep run in the desert but he failed to convert a match point against Kei Nishikori in the fourth round and ultimately fell in a third-set tiebreaker. Raonic is a question mark because he was less than 100 percent in a 6-2, 6-0 Indian Wells final setback against Djokovic. In part due to illness and injury, Kyrgios has not found the win column since his February hot stretch in Marseille and Dubai.

Djokovic, the Australian Open and Indian Wells title winner, will begin in Miami against either Jiri Vesely or Kyle Edmund. Rotterdam champion Martin Klizan is the Serb’s nearest seed, while Dominic Thiem is a potential fourth-round foe. Berdych could be on course for another showdown against a red-hot Alexander Zverev. They have already squared off twice this season and three times dating back to last fall, with Czech surviving on all three occasions. Zverev first has to get past Americans Michael Mmoh and Steve Johnson in Miami, while Berdych has to advance over either Rajeev Ram or Evgeny Donskoy.

Murray may also have an interesting road that possibly includes Bernard Tomic, Grigor Dimitrov, and Gael Monfils just to reach the last eight.