Federer, Nadal to Watch Each Other From Afar

The soft landing spot for Rafael Nadal in the French Open tennis draw here Friday was far, far away from top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland.

Or, you might say, Federer’s place was well away from Nadal’s, the Spaniard having won all three of their matches this year.

They can meet only in the final, two weeks from Sunday. That would be a course correction from 2005, when they played in the semifinals here because of Nadal’s No. 4 seeding. Since then, he has essentially taken control of the situation, having won that semifinal against Federer before taking the French Open crown, and adding four titles this year, pushing his ranking to No. 2.

Federer’s semifinal opponent this year could be No. 3 David Nalbandian of Argentina. Nalbandian nearly took out Federer earlier this month in Rome, one round before an epic Nadal-Federer final, which Nadal won in five sets.

Nalbandian is in a potentially rough quarter. It features a 2005 French Open semifinalist, No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, and is sprinkled with former French Open champions: No. 10 Gaston Gaudio of Argentina and Spaniards Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya.

Federer opens Sunday against Frenchman Arnaud Clement, who has won only three matches since his title run at Marseille, France, in February.

Nadal will play Robin Soderling of Sweden in the first round. In Nadal’s half are two former No. 1s, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, both questionable because of ankle injuries. Still, Roddick and Hewitt, even in their best days, were hardly considered clay-court threats.

On the women’s side, No. 12 Martina Hingis of Switzerland, making her first appearance at the French Open since 2001, will play Lisa Raymond in the first round. She could meet Elena Dementieva of Russia in the fourth round and Kim Clijsters of Belgium in the quarterfinals.

In the same half of the draw are 2005 champion and No. 5 Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium and No. 3 Nadia Petrova of Russia. Last year’s finalist, Mary Pierce of France, pulled out Friday because of an injured right foot.

In the other half are Australian Open champion and top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France, No. 4 Maria Sharapova of Russia, No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and No. 11 Venus Williams, the only American among the 32 seeded players.