The field for a tennis tournament is commonly referred to as a draw. In the case of the Los Angeles Countrywide Classic, that term is meant literally.
The top four seeds ““ No. 1 Andy Roddick, No. 2 Fernando Verdasco, No. 3 Juan Martin del Potro and No. 4 Feliciano Lopez ““ were guaranteed byes in the first round and separated throughout the bracket so that they can’t play each other until at least the semifinals.
The rest of the bracket was then filled out based on the order in which the remaining 24 players’ names were drawn out of the silver cup, which will be awarded to the tournament’s eventual champion.
Despite the random nature of the resulting field, the 2008 Countrywide Classic Main Draw still promises some compelling matchups.
The top quarter of the draw contains three notable names: Roddick, wild-card qualifier Zack Fleishman and eighth-seeded Tommy Haas.
Roddick is a top American men’s tennis player and probably the biggest name at the tournament.
Fleishman played one season of tennis for UCLA, helping lead the Bruins to the NCAA Finals in the 1998-1999 season.
Haas, who is from Germany, won the Countrywide Classic in 2006 and would have been the top seed last year had he not withdrawn due to an injury.
If the seedings hold up, Haas would face Fleishman in the second round, and the winner would meet Roddick in the quarterfinals.
The second group of the bracket contains what may be the best first-round matchup of the tournament: American John Isner against fifth-seeded Russian Marat Safin.
Isner is 6 feet 9 inches with a dangerous serve, and helped lead Georgia to the 2007 NCAA Team Championship.
He also garnered some attention at last year’s U.S. Open by advancing to the third round before falling to Roger Federer.
Safin, meanwhile, is a two-time Grand Slam winner and is coming off of an appearance in the semifinals at this year’s Wimbledon.
Seventh-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain could pose the greatest threat to del Porto in the third group.
Moya will play wild-card Xavier Malisse of Belgium in the first round.
While Verdasco is the highest-seeded player in the final group of the bracket, he will face some stiff competition.
American Mardy Fish played well at last year’s Countrywide Classic, and made it to the fourth round of the 2007 Australian Open.
If he survives the first round, Fish would meet either fellow American Vincent Spadea or Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean in the second round.
The draw will be rounded out by several players who had to play qualifying matches over the weekend. Sixteen players vied for two qualifier spots.
The top four seeded qualifiers are, in order, American Amer Delic, American Sam Warburg, Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan and Dusan Vemic of Serbia.
The qualifying matches took place throughout Saturday and Sunday at UCLA’s Sycamore Courts.
The assembled field will be competing for approximately $475,000 in prize money.
Last field’s tournament was won by Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, who upset top-seeded James Blake in three sets in the tournament final.