By Robert Martin                                Photo Credit: Mark Howard

(August 13, 2011) While grand slam titles will always dictate the record books, the Western and Southern Open makes a point to remind fans that Masters Series events are no slouch. Tennis Now takes a look at how the action could shake out in Cincinnati.

Roger Federer is looking at a major hurdle in his efforts to get into match play form heading into the US Open in the form of his likely first match opponent, Juan Martin Del Potro. Even though the Argentine was eliminated in Montreal by an in-form Marin Cilic, Federer cannot look ahead of this match if he expects to contend.

The good news for Federer is that his draw does lighten up a touch if he can pass the first hurdle. Aside from the dangerous Del Potro, there should not be many problems in his third round match and a possible quarterfinal contest with Tomas Berdych will be the likely deterrent from a semifinal berth.

As the case seems to be, Federer shares the side of the draw that houses World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, whose incredible one-loss season continues in Montreal today. The Serb is also looking at an interesting draw, with the possibility of facing American wildcard Ryan Harrison in the second round, followed by either John Isner or Stanislas Wawrinka in the third.

Recovering Andy Roddick and Gael Monfils round out the seeds in Djokovic’s quarter with a few potential surprises possible. Monfils could see Ivan Dodig in the second round while Roddick could match up with his Wimbledon vanquisher Feliciano Lopez.

On the other side of the draw, some intriguing and entertaining matches are in line. Recovering from a fractured hand, David Ferrer could face rising Grigor Dimitrov in the second round, with a possible third round against the winner of Gilles Simon and Jurgen Melzer who play in the first round.

Janko Tipsarevic, who made the semifinals in Montreal, will likely face the winner of Simon and Melzer, leading to a very interesting series of matchups in that section. World No. 4 Andy Murray might be dreading his draw already, with possible matches against David Nalbandian and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga just to make the quarterfinal.

Tsonga will have to get past a tough challenge in Cilic in the first round, but it should be a smooth trip to the third round after.

Rafael Nadal looks to have caught a bit of a break this week, facing the winner Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and a qualifier in his opening match, followed by a likely contest with Mikhail Youzhny or Fernando Verdasco.

The other side of his quarter looks to be a threatening area to navigate, as Mardy Fish is likely to face Nikolay Davydenko in the second round. The winner receives the prize of going against the winner of a section that is comprised of Richard Gasquet, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Xavier Malisse, and Kevin Anderson.

With Murray's performance in Montreal, it would not be surprising to see him go out early again, which is part of the excitement of these events. The smaller draws allow dangerous players to meet in early rounds creating some interesting later round matchups.