WIMBLEDON, England(AP) Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal face challenging paths to set up another Wimbledon final. Serena and Venus Williams also face potential pitfalls before another all-sister title match.
Six-time champion Federer and Nadal - the only man to beat him at Wimbledon in the last seven finals - were both handed tricky draws Friday for the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
Federer, seeded No. 1 although he has dropped to No. 2 in the rankings behind Nadal, is in the same top half of the draw with Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic and former champion Lleyton Hewitt.
Second-seeded Nadal, who beat Federer in an epic five-set final in 2008 but missed last year's tournament with knee troubles, has Andy Murray and Robin Soderling in the bottom half of the draw.
Federer, winner of a record 16 Grand Slam championships, is trying to match Pete Sampras' modern era record of seven singles titles at the All England Club.
Federer will open play Monday on Centre Court against Colombia's 65th-ranked Alejandro Falla - the third matchup between the two players in the last three tournaments.
Federer beat Falla at the French Open and the grass-court event in Halle, Germany, extending his career record over the Colombian to 4-0 without the loss of a set.
Nadal plays Japan's Kei Nishikori in the first round.
In the women's draw, the Williams sisters are seeded to meet again in the final for the fifth time. At least one Williams has played in nine of the last 10 finals, with the sisters sharing eight of the last 10 titles.
Top-seeded and three-time champion Serena has former winner Maria Sharapova and French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur in her half. Five-time champion Venus has Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, both returning to Wimbledon after coming out of retirement, in her half.
Serena will play 148th-ranked Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal in the opening round, while Venus opens against Paraguay's Rossana De Los Rios.
Federer captured the Australian Open in January but has not won a tournament since - the first time since 2001 that he has come to Wimbledon with only one tournament victory for the year.
Despite his dip in form, British bookmakers make Federer the favorite to hold up the trophy again. But both men face a potentially tough road to get there.
Nadal could have a second-round matchup with James Blake, a former top 10 player who is on the way back after a knee injury sidelined him for three months. After that, Nadal could face talented Latvian Ernests Gulbis in the third round and John Isner or Mikhail Youzhny in the fourth.
Waiting for Nadal in the quarters could be Soderling, the big-hitting Swede who ended the Spaniard's run at the French Open last year and lost to him in the French final this month.
In the top half, Federer could meet Tommy Robredo in the third round, Feliciano Lopez in the fourth and Tomas Berdych or Nikolay Davydenko in the quarters. A possible semifinal looms against either No. 3 Djokovic or No. 5 Roddick. Federer has beaten Roddick in three Wimbledon finals, including last year's marathon that went to 16-14 in the fifth set.
Lurking in the top half is No. 15 Hewitt, the 2002 champion who beat Federer in Sunday's final in Halle. The Australian is in the same quarter with Djokovic and Roddick - by far the toughest section of the draw.
Fourth-seeded Murray, seeking to become the first British player to win the men's title since 1936, is poised to face No. 9 Fernando Verdasco in the quarters and Nadal in the semis. But Murray could wind up in the fourth round against big-serving American Sam Querrey, who won last week's Wimbledon tuneup at Queen's.
The hometown pressure is again on Murray, especially since there is no English player in the men's singles draw for the first time in the tournament's 133-year history. Murray, who is Scottish, reached the semifinals last year but has not been in top form recently.
He is too good a player to be concerned with that coming into the tournament,'' said Tim Henman, an Englishman who reached the semis four times.All these statistics about recent form that people look at don't mean anything. Wimbledon will be different because of the nature of the tournament.''
An intriguing first-round pairing has Djokovic vs. Olivier Rochus, the little Belgian who holds a 3-1 career advantage over the Serb. Soderling opens against American Robby Ginepri, who beat the Swede this year in India.
Among the women, Serena Williams could face a fourth-round battle against Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion who is trying to return to the top of her game after shoulder and elbow problems. Sharapova beat Serena in the final six years ago.
Beyond that, Serena is poised to face Stosur in the semis.
In the bottom half, there could be a fourth-round all-Belgian duel between Clijsters and Henin. No. 8 Clijsters is returning to Wimbledon for the first since 2006 after coming out of retirement last year and winning the U.S. Open. No. 17 Henin is back for the first time since 2007 after 20 months away from the game.
Venus Williams could face new French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Jelena Jankovic in the semis.
Bookmakers have Serena as the title favorite, followed by Venus.