Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem and Kei NIshikori in action at Gerry Weber Open

Eight-time champion Roger Federer headlines the cast at this week's Gerry Weber Open in Halle, live on Sky Sports 3.

The Swiss great has won the last three renewals of the event to go with with five successes in six stagings from 2003-2008 and he tops the seedings this year.

Federer comes into the tournament following a semi-final defeat to Dominic Thiem in Stuttgart over the weekend, his first action since Rome after withdrawing from the French Open with a back injury.

The 34-year-old beat Italy's Andreas Seppi in last year's final and begins his campaign against German wild card Jan-Lennard Struff.

Sixth seed David Ferrer has already departed the tournament after a first round defeat to Seppi and fourth seed Tomas Berdych will be hoping to avoid a similar fate when he starts against Marcos Baghdatis.

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Federer's last two defeats have been against Austria's Thiem and the 22-year-old is seeded third and up to a career highest seventh in the world rankings, he starts his campaign against Portugal's Joao Sousa.

Also in action in Halle this week is world No 6 and second seed Kei Nishikori, who was made to work for a three-set win over Lucas Pouille in his opening match.

French Open quarter-finalist David Goffin joined Nishikori in the next round after a closely contested win over 19-year-old Croatian Borna Coric, but the exciting teenage duo of Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz remain in the draw.

You can follow all the action on Sky Sports 3 on Monday from 11am and throughout the week,