substitutes for the doubles event, ranked in the ninth position of the ATP Doubles Race, directly after Fyrstenberg and Matkowski, were Marcelo Melo and André Sá from Brazil. Partnering together since 2006, Marcelo Melo and André Sá advanced the third round in Grand Slam events in 2008, having been knocked out in the first round of the Australian Open (lost to Arnold Ker/López), the second at the French Open (lost to Ram/Reynolds), the third in Wimbledon (withdrew against Anderson/Lindstedt), and the first at the US Open (lost to Robredo/Roitman). The pair lost one final at London's Queen's Club (lost to Nestor/Zimonjić), but won three titles in Costa do Sauípe (def. Montañés/Ventura), Pörtschach (def. Knowle/Melzer), and New Haven (def. Bhupathi/Knowles). Groupings The draw ceremony, which divided the eight competing players/teams in the two round robin groups, took place on November 5, in Shanghai's Hilton hotel, in attendance by ATP No. 4 Andy Murray. With Rafael Nadal withdrawn due to a knee injury, Roger Federer took the top seed and the heading of the Red Group; Novak Djokovic took the second seed, headlining the Gold Group. Federer was drawn alongside Murray, Andy Roddick and Nadal's replacement Gilles Simon, while Djokovic was joined in his group by Nikolay Davydenko, Juan Martín del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The Red Group's composition set several rematches of the year's encounters, confronting Federer with three players against which he lost in their last meeting – having been defeated by Roddick in the quarterfinals of the Miami Masters, losing to him for the second time in their seventeen matches against each other; by Simon in their only meeting in the second round of the Toronto Masters; and by Murray in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters. Federer and Murray's match was their fourth encounter of the year, after a first round match in Dubai (won by Murray), the US Open final (won by Federer), and a Madrid semifinal (won by Murray), which brought their head-to-head record to 2–3 in Murray's favor. The announced meeting of Murray and Simon was also a rematch, that of Madrid Masters' final, which Murray won in straight sets, defeating the Frenchman for the second time in the year, after a second round at the Hamburg Masters, to lead their head-to-head 2–1. Roddick's encounter with Simon was to be their third career meeting, the second in 2008 after a Paris Masters third round (won