THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO -- Frank Dancevic is to be forgiven if he looked a little downcast following the Rogers Cup draw on Saturday.
Not only did the Niagara Falls, Ont., native draw a tough first-round matchup with No. 24-ranked Croatian Mario Ancic, but lurking in the second round is a potential matchup with defending champion Novak Djokovic.
"I got a really tough draw this year," Dancevic said. "I'm just going to have to be as prepared as I can be for the first round."
Dancevic is also on the same side of the bracket as world No. 2 Rafael Nadal and fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer. The top half of the draw features Swiss star Roger Federer and fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko.
At this event last year in Montreal, Dancevic went on a surprising run. He reached the quarter-finals before falling in three tough sets to Nadal.
It was just one of several impressive recent showings from the 23-year-old, who advanced to the second round at Wimbledon after an upset victory over No. 7-ranked Spaniard David Nalbandian.
He's clearly drawn the attention of Canadian tennis fans. A chorus of groans echoed from the Rexall Centre audience on hand for the draw on Saturday when Dancevic's opponent's name was pulled from the silver chalice onstage.
Dancevic, ranked 83rd in the world, thinks he needs to be aggressive against Ancic.
"He has a very good serve, and he's a very aggressive player, he comes in a lot," he said. "I'm just going to have to try to keep the pressure on him and see if I can take advantage of the points first. It'll be a battle out there in who can put the pressure first on every point."
And though he concedes that a waiting Djokovic in the next round is in "the back of my mind," he says he can't worry about that now.
"Mario's going to be a tough guy to get through, nevermind Djokovic," he said. "So it's going to be important for me to focus on my first-round match and try to get through that one.
"If I do end up getting through that one, we'll see what happens after that."
The other Canadians in the field won't have it any easier.
Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., will play 29th-ranked Marcos Baghdatis of Cypress in the first round, with Nadal, fresh off a thrilling five-set victory over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon men's final, awaiting the winner.
Frederic Niemeyer of Deauville, Que., drew perhaps the toughest first-round matchup of the three, against 12th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo.
All of the Canadian singles qualifiers were eliminated Saturday.
Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., lost to American Donald Young 6-1, 6-2, Milos Raonic of Thornhill dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision to Alexandre Kudryavtsev, Philip Bester of North Vancouver, B.C., was ousted by Sweden's Thomas Johansson 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1), 6-2, while Milan Pokrajac of Mississauga, Ont., lost 6-4, 7-5 to Alejandro Falla of Colombia.
.It's a strong field all the way through, featuring nine of the world's top 10 players. The most notable withdrawals were Nalbandian (hip), world No. 26 Lleyton Hewitt (hip) of Australia and 38th-ranked Croatian Ivan Ljubicic (personal reasons).
The first round boasts some compelling matchups. World No. 27 Carlos Moya of Spain will take on Germany's Tommy Haas, ranked 46th, while 41st-ranked American Mardy Fish drew Germany's Nicolas Kiefer, ranked 31st.
Later, Federer could meet Roddick in the quarter-finals. Federer holds a commanding 15-2 lead in career meetings between the two men but Roddick beat him the last time they played earlier this season. On the bottom half, Djokovic could face Murray in the quarters and then Nadal in the semifinals. And Murray might have to get through recent Wimbledon semifinalist and world No. 1 Marat Safin in the third round.
"Being in a Masters, you're going to have to play someone tough," Dancevic said.
At least Dancevic says he'll have his health on his side after struggling with injuries all season. Most recently, he was hampered by a muscle problem in his second-round loss to Bobby Reynolds at Wimbledon, when he said he pulled his lateral oblique early in the second set.
But he says he feels strong now, and that he's looking forward to playing in Canada.
"This is the one time of year you get to relax at home and play in front of your home crowd," he said. "I enjoy it very much and I'm looking forward to it."
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