World No. 1 and three-time champion Roger Federer faces a challenging road to reclaim his Pacific Life Open title and also his first title of the 2008 season, following the release of the men's draw on Tuesday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The competitive field features 47 of the Top 50 ranked players, including all of the Top 45.

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Federer, the top seed at the Pacific Life Open for the fifth consecutive year, will take on the winner of Sergio Roitman and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in his opening round match. He could then face Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who joins Andy Roddick as the ATP match wins leaders (15-2) after capturing two clay court titles during last month's Latin America swing.

Federer's top quarter of the draw includes possible fourth round opponents Tommy Robredo or Ivan Ljubicic along with quarterfinal opponents No. 6 Andy Roddick or No. 11 Andy Murray, both two-time ATP winners this season.

But Roddick and Murray have tricky opening round matches. The American plays the winner of Tommy Haas and Julien Benneteau while the British No. 1 takes on the Jurgen Melzer and Marat Safin survivor

Fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko headlines the second quarter of the draw, which also includes No. 7 David Nalbandian, No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez, No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny and two-time winner Lleyton Hewitt. Nalbandian won the last two ATP Masters Series events, in Madrid and Paris last autumn, and comes to Indian Wells on the heels of consecutive final appearances.

Third seed and last year's finalist Novak Djokovic is joined in the third quarter of the draw by No. 5 David Ferrer, No. 10 Tomas Berdych and No. 16 Guillermo Canas, who upset Federer last year. Six of the 12 qualifiers in the tournament are also in this section of the draw. The 20-year-old Djokovic is seeded to meet Canas in the fourth round; the two faced off last year in the ATP Masters Series Miami final

In the final quarter of the draw, No. 2 and defending champion Rafael Nadal opens against a qualifier or Austrian Werner Eschauer. Nadal could meet countryman and close friend Feliciano Lopez, last week's Dubai finalist, in the third round. Possible fourth round opponents include either Frenchmen No. 14 Paul-Henri Mathieu or No. 17/Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Nadal lost to Tsonga in the semifinals in Melbourne.

Nadal could come up against No. 8 Richard Gasquet and No. 9 James Blake in the quarterfinals. Gasquet opens with the winner of countryman Sebastien Grosjean and Robin Soderling while Blake takes on the winner of Potito Starace and Marc Gicquel.

The wild cards in the tournament are Mario Ancic (vs. Monfils) and Americans Robby Ginepri (vs. Spadea), John Isner (vs. Bolelli), Jesse Levine (vs. Wawrinka), and Donald Young (vs. a qualifier).