Former World No.1 Marcelo Rios will go head-to-head with two-time French Open champion Sergi Bruguera for the first time on clay on Friday after being drawn into the same group in the Seat Champions Cup in Barcelona.

The action gets underway on Thursday. Rios, who dominated the BlackRock Tour of Champions with an impressive six titles during the 2006 season, has won two of his three previous meetings with Bruguera, but all were on hard courts. Bruguera was the No.1 player in the South African Airways Rankings last year. This will be the first event of the year for both players.

View Barcelona Groups and Order of Play

Bruguera and Rios have been drawn into a group with Cedric Pioline and Carl Uwe Steeb, who was a late replacement for the injured Magnus Gustafsson. They will also have to contend with the challenge of the 2002 French Open Champion Albert Costa, who will be making his debut on the BlackRock Tour of Champions. Costa retired from the professional tour two years ago, and he will be desperate to prove that he has not lost the clay court prowess that won him the title at Roland Garros.

Costa has been drawn into a group with the 1991 Wimbledon champion Michael Stich, former French Open finalist Henri Leconte and the big-hitting Swede Magnus Larsson.

Last year, Bruguera defeated the 1992 Olympic silver medallist Jordi Arrese in the final, and one year earlier he overcame Carlos Costa.

After Barcelona, the BlackRock Tour of Champions will move onto the Foro Italico in Rome over the weekend of the 10th and 11th May, and then the BlackRock Tennis Classic at the Rothenbaum Club in Hamburg, 14-18 May.

After that, Pete Sampras will make his long awaited debut on the BlackRock Tour of Champions in Sao Paulo, 21-24 May, 2008.

The Tour opened in Belfast in February with Anders Jarryd successfully defending his title.