Federer receives a tricky path to US Open final

NEW YORK: World number one Roger Federer will have to overcome a path filled with revenge-hungry foes from other Grand Slam events in his bid to win a 12th career Slam title and his fourth US Open in a row.

The draw for the year's last Grand Slam tennis event was made on Wednesday and the Swiss superstar, who will play a qualifier in the first round and would face another in round two, has some notable obstacles later in his quest.

Federer, the US Open top seed for the fourth year in a row, can meet Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero or Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the fourth round and Czech Tomas Berdych or Andy Roddick, the 2006 US Open runner-up, in a quarter-final.

Federer, 45-6 this year with five titles including Wimbledon and Australian Open triumphs, is chasing the all-time Slam singles record of 14 titles held by US legend Pete Sampras.

Federer, 26, won his 50th career title Sunday at the ATP Cincinnati Masters.

In the third round, Federer could face either a qualifier, Finland's Jarkko Nieminen or sizzling US wild-card newcomer John Isner.

Isner fired 144 aces three weeks ago in a run to the Washington final, the most by anyone outside a Grand Slam event, and won a record five matches in a row in third-set tie-breakers before losing to Andy Roddick in the title match.

Federer is 9-3 all-time against Ferrero, having won seven in a row including a quarterfinal this year at Wimbledon. The Swiss star's 6-1 record against Gasquet includes six wins in row, the most recent in a Wimbledon semifinal.

The highest-ranked possible quarter-final foes for Federer include US fifth seed Roddick, who has lost 13 of 14 career meetings with Federer and gone four years since his lone victory, and Berdych, who lost to Federer in last year's French Open and Wimbledon fourth round but won their first meeting at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Federer's half of the draw brings in US sixth seed James Blake, Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko, German 10th seed Tommy Haas and Argentina's Guillermo Canas, who defeated Federer this year at Indian Wells and Miami, as potential semi-final foes.

Federer is 7-0 against Blake, beating him on Sunday in Cincinnati for career title number 50; 9-0 against Davydenko, a 2006 US Open semi-final loser to Federer; and 8-2 against Haas, not including advancing by walkover in the fourth round at Wimbledon last month when Haas was injured.

Spain's Rafael Nadal, who beat Federer in the Roland Garros final and made an epic five-set fight before falling in the Wimbledon final, is the second seed and could await in a third consecutive Slam final.

Nadal, who owns an 8-5 career edge on Federer, opens against Australian wild card Alun Jones with Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic or American Ryan Sweeting next in line.

England's Tim Henman, expected to confirm on Thursday that he will retire after the Open and a Davis Cup tie, is a possible third-round opponent fr Nadal.

The Spaniard has won both their career meetings.