Federer starts New Year in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi: Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will take on Russian ace Nikolay Davydenko in the opening match on December 31 in the $250,000 winner-takes-all Capitala World Tennis Championship.

With five of the world's top ten players including world number one Roger Federer and world number two Rafael Nadal in the six-man line-up for this annual event, the Tsonga Davydenko match will be followed by the Robin Soderling versus Stanislas Wawrinka encounter to complete the opening day's action.

With Federer and Nadal being seeded directly into the semis, the two superstars will start the New Year in action here, with the final scheduled for January 2.

Federer will be the first on court on January 1, at 3 pm and will take on the winner of the Soderling- Wawrinka match, while in the second tie, Nadal will meet either Tsonga or Davydenko.

According to organisers, the draw provides some interesting scenarios, in particular a possible re-match of the French Open final should Federer and Soderling meet each other on day two of the showpiece tournament.

Federer, who lost to Andy Murray here last year, has a good track record against Soderling, having knocked him out of Wimbledon and the US Open this year but Abu Dhabi is fresh territory for the Swede who will be looking for revenge.

Nadal will also be relishing the possibility of meeting Davydenko again, the man he lost to in the final of the Shanghai Masters in October.

The Russian powerhouse will firstly need to get past Tsonga if he is to have another shot at the stylish Spaniard.

John Lickrish, Managing Director of Flash Entertainment, said, "With such a fantastic line up of the world's top players there was never any doubt that whichever way the player draw went we would see some thrilling tennis."

Tickets

Tickets can be purchased through www.boxofficeme.com or for further information visit www.capitalawtc.com