Rafael Nadal could meet in-form Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals in Madrid after the draw placed them in the same quarter.
It’s a jam-packed draw which also sees Novak Djokovic in the same half as Nadal and Alcaraz.
Djokovic, who slowly built up confidence by reaching the final in Belgrade, will face the winner of Carlos Gimeno Valero and Gael Monfils.
Then the Serb could face Denis Shapovalov and Casper Ruud en route to a semi-final meeting with Nadal or Alcaraz.
Speaking of Nadal the Australian Open champion will compete in his first tournament since reaching the Indian Wells final.
Nadal suffered a rib injury in that final and on his return will face either in-form Miomir Kecmanovic or Alexander Bublik.
A third round meeting with Pablo Carreno Busta could await Nadal before a potential last eight meeting with Carlos Alcaraz.
Meanwhile Alcaraz will face the winner of Fabio Fognini and Nikoloz Basilashvili in his first match before potentially facing Cameron Norrie in the last 16.
Nadal and Alcaraz met in Madrid last year on Alcaraz’s 18th birthday with Nadal comprehensively winning although Alcaraz has risen sharply up the rankings and is a completely different player.
In the bottom half of the draw Stefanos Tsitsipas will meet either Lucas Pouille or Karen Khachanov in his first match with Diego Schwartzman awaiting in the last 16.
Should Tsitsipas and Schwartzman meet it would be a rematch from their epic Monte-Carlo clash which Tsitsipas came back from 4-0 down to win in the deciding set.
Andrey Rublev is also in that quarter of the draw and he takes on either Lorenzo Sonego or Jack Draper in his first match.
The final quarter of the draw sees a projected quarter-final between Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Zverev.
Auger-Aliassime will start against Frances Tiafoe or Cristian Garin with Jannik Sinner awaiting in the last 16.
While defending champion Zverev faces Marin Cilic or Albert Ramos-Vinolas in his opening match with a last 16 clash with Reilly Opelka on the horizon.
Here is the draw with main draw action starting on Sunday:
