PARIS: Top two seeds Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are on course for a fi rst showdown since May in the Paris Masters which started yesterday. The last time their rivalry was renewed on the court was when Federer defeated Nadal in the fi nal of the Madrid Masters in May, after the Spaniard had been exhausted by his marathon semifi nal win over Novak Djokovic.

Since then their paths have not crossed. Nadal crashed out early in the French Open, did not play at Wimbledon to rest his troublesome knees and both men fell to Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina at the US Open.

Federer played in the Davis Cup the week after Flushing Meadows but took a long break after that returning only this week where he lost his hometown title in Basel on Sunday to Djokovic.

Nadal was once more sidelined with injury after New York, this time to a abdominal stomach muscle strain, and has played just the once since then losing to Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the fi nal of the Shanghai Masters last month.

Federer, who has failed to make it past the quarterfi nals in six attempts at the Bercy Indoors Stadium says he is at a loss to explain his lack of success at the tournament.

“The surface is fast and suits me so there is no reason why I should not be able to go far,” he said.

Nadal has made it clear that his main objective for the rest of this year is to help Spain defend the Davis Cup at home to the Czech Republic and that regaining the world No 1 spot from Federer is not what matters most to him.

“I am just taking it week by week at the moment and if it happens it happens. What is more important is being properly prepared and fi t to continue winning tournaments.”

Federer has a straight enough road through to the last four this time, but could run into either fourth seed Andy Murray, the winner in Valencia yesterday, or Del Potro at that stage.

Nadal faces a potential quarterfi nal matchup with last year’s winner Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France with Djokovic, who won his fourth title of the year in Basel, seeded to take him on in the last four.

Tsonga will lead a strong home challenge with in-form Gilles Simon and unpredictable Gael Monfi ls all looking to emulate their compatriot’s thrilling run to last year’s title.