Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka headline Miami Open, live on Sky Sports from Wednesday

Roger Federer beat his coach Ivan Ljubicic to claim his last Miami title but he heads to Florida favourite to claim the trophy

Roger Federer heads to Miami chasing back-to-back Masters titles for the first time since 2014, while Stan Wawrinka tops the seedings.

The 35-year-old __can rarely have headed into a tournament in better spirits, having won the Paribas Open at Indian Wells for Masters title number 25 just six weeks after Grand Slam number 18 came in Melbourne at the Australian Open.

Federer, a two-time champion in South Florida, is back up to number six in the world rankings but it is more than 10 years since he claimed the title.

The Swiss beat the man who now sits in his box as his coach, Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 7-6 for his second Miami title, having beaten Rafael Nadal in 2005 and the Spaniard also lines up in a field that includes seven of the world's top 10 players.

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World No 1 and two-time Miami champion Andy Murray was the first high-profile name to withdraw, citing an elbow injury after his defeat to Vasek Pospisil in California and he was soon followed by Novak Djokovic who has the same issue, although the Serb's elbow has been a problem for some time.

The pair have won seven of the last eight Miami titles (Djokovic 5, Murray 2) - Andy Roddick's 2010 success the only break - with the Serb winning the last three, but with injury ruling him out he will see another 1000 points drop off his ranking tally.

The world's top two, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are absent from a tournament they have dominated in recent years

Despite the absence of the top two players in the world, a high-quality field makes the 2,617 mile trip across America to contest the second of the season's Masters 1000 events and it is Wawrinka who claims the No 1 seed for the first time in a Masters event.

Wawrinka was beaten by Federer in Sunday's final but he will be looking to build on his best-ever Indian Wells display with a similar showing in Miami, where he has never been beyond the fourth round and suffered a shock second-round defeat last year.

Kei Nishikori, last year's runner-up in Miami and an Indian Wells quarter-finalist last week, is seeded second while Milos Raonic and Federer complete the top four.

If the seedings are followed, Federer and Wawrinka will meet in the top half semi-final, with Nishikori and Raonic contesting the bottom half, but there are plenty of other players who arrive with designs on a run in the Florida sun.

As ever Juan Martin del Potro poses a formidable threat from his lowly seeding of 29 and he is a potential third-round opponent for Federer, who leads the Argentine 15-5 in the head-to-head stakes but Del Potro has significant wins over the Swiss to draw on for inspiration, including the 2009 US Open at Flushing Meadows.

Despite his top ranking, Wawrinka could face German sensation Alexander Zverev and Australia's Nick Kyrgios before the semi-final, with Kyrgios in particular a threat if he is over the food poisoning that forced him to withdraw from a quarter-final meeting with Federer last week.

The Aussie made his Masters breakthrough in Miami last year to reach the last four where he was beaten by Nishikori, and Japan's world No 4 has a favourable draw as he chases a first 1000 series title having lost in three finals.

Rafael Nadal is chasing his first title of 2017 and a first tournament win in Miami

Nadal is the favourite to come through alongside Nishikori, he is seeded fifth and could face Raonic in his quarter but the Canadian has struggled with injury, withdrawing last week in California and it remains to be seen how his body holds up.

Remarkably, Nadal has never won in Miami, having lost in four finals, but he looked in good touch until coming up against an inspired Federer in their fourth round match last week.

Grigor Dimitrov and Jack Sock boast four titles between them already this season and provide in-form competition in Nadal's quarter while Philipp Kohlschreiber is his likely third-round opponent.

Grigor Dimitrov has two titles already this year but a win in Miami would represent the biggest tournament win of his career

With Murray absent, Britain will be represented in the men's draw by Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund, both of whom will look to progress further than Indian Wells where the draw did them no favours.

Evans beat Dustin Brown in the first round before a defeat to Nishikori and the bad news for the world No 43 is that the Japanese is a possible third-round opponent if he __can come past Ernesto Escobedo in round one and Fernando Verdasco in the second round.

Edmund's Californian hopes ended at the hands of Djokovic in the second round and if he can overcome a qualifier Jared Donaldson at Crandon Park this week he will face Mischa Zverev before a possible third-round date with Raonic.

British number four Aljaz Bedene is also through to the main draw, having come through qualifying he faces Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff before a possible second round meeting with Gilles Simon.

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