Published on 12:00 AM, June 21, 2008

The Championships Wimbledon

Federer opens with Hrbaty

Roger Federer will have to get past Novak Djokovic before a probable Wimbledon final showdown with his arch rival Rafael Nadal.
Federer begins his bid for a sixth Wimbledon title against Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty, while Nadal faces a first round clash against Germany's Andreas Beck.
But it is a scheduled semi-final clash with Australian Open champion Djokovic, who beat Federer in the last four in Melbourne, that will set pulses racing.
Federer, the defending champion and top seed, will have to extend his 59-match unbeaten run on grass first, starting with unseeded Hrbaty, who has won their only two previous meetings.
The Swiss world number one could play Australia's Lleyton Hewitt - the last man before Federer to win Wimbledon back in 2002 - if they both make it to the fourth round. But Hewitt, who starts against Robin Hasse of the Netherlands, would probably have to get past 15th seed Fernando Gonzalez first.
Federer is scheduled to play David Ferrer, the Spanish fifth seed, in the quarter-finals before the Djokovic match-up.
French Open champion Nadal, fresh from his first grass-court title at Queen's, is the second seed and can't play Federer until the final.
The Spaniard has a probable fourth round clash against Radek Stepanek or Mikhail Youzhny before a quarter-final with France's Richard Gasquet, who reached the semi-finals at the All-England Club last year.
Nadal is scheduled to meet Nikolay Davydenko in the semi-finals, if the Russian fourth seed gets past a likely last eight match-up with Andy Roddick, twice a Wimbledon runner-up.
Djokovic plays Michael Berrer of Germany first and the Serb could face an intriguing second round match against former world number one Marat Safin, with a quarter-final against David Nalbandian, a former Wimbledon finalists, on the horizon.
British number one Andy Murray, seeded 12th, will open his campaign against France's Fabrice Santoro.
The Scot, who has been struggling with a thumb injury, is Britain's only realistic prospect of ending the long wait for a homegrown champion and he has a relatively smooth passage to a possible fourth round tie against Gasquet.
In the womens' singles, Ana Ivanovic, the French Open champion and world number one, has been handed a first round match against Paraguay's Rossana de los Rios.
Ivanovic is scheduled to play Russia's Anna Chakvetadze in the quarter-finals and Serena Williams in the last four, if the American can get past a likely clash with fellow former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo in the third round and Svetlana Kuznetsova, the fourth seed, in the quarters.
Defending champion Venus Williams starts her challenge for a fifth Wimbledon title against British wild card Naomi Cavaday and could play India's Sania Mirza in the third round.
The American is in line to play Jelena Jankovic, the Serb second seed, in the quarterfinals and Maria Sharapova in the semis.
Sharapova, the 2004 winner, is likely to meet fellow Russian Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals.