Roger Federer will face a revived challenge from Rafael Nadal when the Swiss world number one defends his title at the Sony Ericsson Open which starts on Wednesday. While Federer was practising in Miami after losing in the second round of last week’s Pacific Life Open to Argentine Guillermo Canas, Nadal was breaking a nine-month title drought. Spain’s twice French Open champion claimed his first trophy since last year at Roland Garros with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Serb Novak Djokovic in the Indian Wells final on Sunday. Federer, Nadal and the other seeds received byes into the Miami second round. Federer, whose 41-match winning streak was ended by Canas, begins his campaign on Saturday against the winner of the clash between Russian Igor Andreev and American teenager Sam Querrey. Nadal’s first opponent in the Masters Series event will be either Czech Jan Hernych, the number 72 who defeated Briton Tim Henman at Indian Wells, or a qualifier.
