Rome Masters 2012 Live: Federer, Nadal in Action

Two favorites to win the Rome's ATP World Tour Masters 1000 - the Internazionali BNL d'Italia - are live on action on Wednesday, May 15, 2012. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who swapped places in the world no. 2 and no. 3 rankings due to Federer's victory in Madrid last Sunday, are starting separate campaigns to win the Rome tennis tournament at the Foro Italico. Watch live online tennis directly from the 2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia here featuring the top ATP tennis stars led by Nadal and Federer.

Newly ascended world no. 2 Federer will take on Carlos Berlocq of Argentina. The Rome tennis tournament has been one of the fewer major titles missing from the Swiss' collection which increased to 74 ATP titles with his victory in Madrid last weekend. Federer's best finish in this tournament were reaching the finals in 2003 and 2006. Federer is bracketed with world no. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic in the top half of the draw. If he gets past Berlocq, he will face off with former world no. 1 and French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, who eliminated no. 13-seed Gael Monfils. Other seeds on Federer's section of the draw are no. 9-seed John Isner and no. 8-seed Janko Tipsaveric.

As for Nadal, he has said in an earlier interview that he doesn't mind Federer overtaking him in the rankings this close to the French Open. He indicated that whether one is world no. 2 or no. 3, one still needs to win to capture the French Open. Nadal is using the Rome tennis tournament as a final tune-up before he starts his bid to become the only men's player to win seven titles at Roland Garros. The Spaniard has done extremely well in the past here in Rome winning five titles in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010. Nadal lost to Djokovic in the Rome final last year and was a shock upset victim to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the round of 16 in last week's Madrid Open. Still, Nadal is the man to beat on clay this year having won 2 titles last month in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona.

Other featured men's matches in Wednesday's schedule are the battle between Estoril champion Juan Martin Del Potro vs Mikhail Youzhny, and Stanislas Wawrinka vs Madrid semifinalist Janko Tipsarevic.

Watch Rome Masters 2012 Live: Wednesday, 16 May 2012 Schedule

CENTRALE Start 12:00 noon
Marcel Granollers (ESP) vs [WC] Fabio Fognini (ITA) ATP
[3] Roger Federer (SUI) vs Carlos Berlocq (ARG) ATP
[9] Serena Williams (USA) vs Nadia Petrova (RUS) WTA

Not Before 7:30 PM
Florian Mayer (GER) vs [2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) ATP
Not Before 9:00 PM
[1] Victoria Azarenka (BLR) vs Shahar Peer (ISR) WTA

SUPERTENNIS ARENA Start 11:00 am
[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) vs Petra Cetkovska (CZE) WTA
[10] Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) vs Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) ATP
[16] Richard Gasquet (FRA) vs [WC] Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) ATP
[WC] Venus Williams (USA) vs Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) WTA

Not Before 7:00 PM
Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) vs [8] Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) ATP

Watch 2012 Rome Masters tennis live online directly from the 2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia featuring the top ATP tennis stars led by Nadal and Federer through TennisTv.com.