Ernests draws Seppi in Poertschach opener

The main draw for the Hypo Group Tennis International has been released. Ernests is placed in the top quarter, where he will face world #43, Andreas Seppi of Italy, in the first round. They have never played against each other in an ATP event.

Having taken two weeks off prior to this tournament, Ernests is expected to be well-rested and had a long hitting session with Jurgen Melzer yesterday. Seppi, however, is coming off an excellent run in Hamburg, where he lost in the semi-finals to Roger Federer.

If Ernests were to prevail, he will meet the winner of the match between Mischa Zverev of Germany and Israel’s Dudi Sela. The second-round victor is likely to face the top seed, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.

The Russian world number 4 recently won the biggest title of his career by defeating Rafael Nadal to claim the Miami Masters Series title. In that tournament, he managed to escape from a very tight second-round match against Ernests where he was down a match point.

~ by Zahirah on May 17, 2008.