LONDON, July 26: Top seeded Roger Federer could meet Britain’s Andy Murray in the Olympic tennis final in a repeat of Wimbledon earlier this month, after the pair were drawn on opposite sides of the competition on Thursday.
Third seed Murray will take on Federer’s fellow-Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in his opening match.
Federer, the top seed and world number one, will play Colombia’s Alejandro Falla while Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, seeded two, will face Italy’s Fabio Fognini.
Federer regained the No 1 ranking with the Wimbledon victory; elevating his Grand Slam title haul to 17.
He won Olympic gold in doubles in 2008 with Wawrinka, but a medal in singles is the one important accolade to elude him.
Women’s top seed Belarusian Victoria Azarenka will play Romanian world number 79 Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round when the competition kicks off later this week.
Seeds: Men’s: 1. Roger Federer (Switzerland); 2. Novak Djokovic (Serbia); 3. Andy Murray (Britain); 4. David Ferrer (Spain); 5. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France); 6. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic); 7. Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia); 8. Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina); 9. Juan Monaco (Argentina); 10. John Isner (US); 11. Nicolas Almagro (Spain); 12. Gilles Simon (France); 13. Marin Cilic (Croatia); 14. Fernando Verdasco (Spain); 15. Kei Nishikori (Japan); 16. Richard Gasquet (France).
Women’s: 1. Victoria Azarenka (Belarus); 2. Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland); 3. Maria Sharapova (Russia); 4. Serena Williams (US); 5. Samantha Stosur (Australia); 6. Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic); 7. Angelique Kerber (Germany); 8. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark); 9. Sara Errani (Italy); 10. Li Na (China); 11. Ana Ivanovic (Serbia); 12. Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia); 13. Vera Zvonareva (Russia); 14. Maria Kirilenko (Russia); 15. Sabine Lisicki (Germany); 16. Nadia Petrova (Russia).—Agencies
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