Federer, Nadal top French Open draw list

PARIS, May 23 (UPI) -- Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have squared off in the last two French Open finals, are the top two seeds for the 2008 French Open, which begins Sunday.

Officials of the French Open revealed the men's draw of the Grand Slam tournament Friday. It was no surprise that Federer and Nadal, the No. 1 and 2 ranked players in the world, respectively, were put at the top of the seedings.

Nadal is seeking a fourth consecutive French Open title while Federer is seeking the one Grand Slam event that has eluded him. Even though he is seeded behind Federer, Nadal has to be seen as the French Open favorite. He has won 108 of his last 110 matches on clay courts, including victories over Federer in the finals of Master Series tournament in Monaco and Germany in recent weeks.

World No. 3 Novak Djokovic, who nearly edged Nadal from the No. 2 ranking last weekend, was seeded third and Nikolay Davydenko was installed at No. 4.

David Ferrer was seeded fifth, with David Nalbandian sixth and James Blake seventh while Richard Gasquet rounds out the top tier at No. 8.

The French Open begins Sunday and runs through June 8.