Top seed Roger Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal top the list of eight seeded players who will square off in the quarterfinals Friday. It’s the first time eight seeds made it to the quarters here since the tournament began placing 16 seeds in 1985.

World No. 1 Federer of Switzerland faces No.8 seed David Ferrer of Spain for the second tournament in a row. The Swiss sensation beat Ferrer on March 31 in the semifinals of ATP Masters Series Miami 6-1, 6-4. Federer has a career record of 3-0 vs. the Spaniard.

Federer is the only man still alive in both the doubles and singles here. He enters the encounter vs. Ferrer with a record 27-match win streak in ATP Masters Series events. His last Masters Series defeat came here last year in the quarterfinals to Richard Gasquet. Since then, the Swiss magician won the last four ATP Masters Series events he played: Hamburg and Cincinnati last year, Indian Wells and Miami this year.

Ferrer achieved his best result of the year in reaching the semifinals in Miami before the loss to Federer. That represented the third semifinal Masters Series showing of his career. The others came last year in Miami (l. to Nadal) and Rome (l. to Nadal again). Ferrer has a 6-2 career record here, reaching the quarterfinals last year too (l. to Coria).

World No. 2 Nadal, the defending champion here, squares off against the man he beat in the final here last year, No. 6 seed Guillermo Coria. Nadal has a 3-1 career advantage, winning all three last season. The Argentine beat Nicolas Kiefer in the third round on Thursday despite 22 double faults. The Spaniard Nadal beat Kristof Vliegen Thursday. He is the only player remaining yet to drop a set.

Nadal, 19, comes into the encounter riding a 39-match winning streak on clay over the past year, the fourth longest in Open Era history. Coria, 24, won this event in 2004 and was runner-up last year (l. to Nadal) and in 2003 (l. to Ferrero), but has seen limited action so far this year, with a 7-4 record, hampered by a sore shoulder.

Fourth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia faces No. 12 seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile. Ljubicic beat wild card Gilles Simon in the third round, while Gonzalez defeated Robin Soderling. Ljubicic holds a 2-1 career edge against the Chilean, winning their last match in the quarterfinals of ATP Masters Series Madrid last October.

Seventh seed Gaston Gaudio of Argentina plays No. 15 seed Tommy Robredo of Spain. Gaudio beat qualifier Alessio Di Mauro in the third round, while Robredo upset No. 3 seed David Nalbandian 5-7, 6-1, 7-5. Gaudio and Robredo are knotted at 3-3 in career ATP matches, with Gaudio winning the last one in Cincinnati last August.

Doubles Preview: Allegro-Federer Aim for the Semifinals

Swiss countrymen Yves Allegro and Roger Federer take on India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Czech Radek Stepanek in the quarterfinals Friday. The Swiss buddies beat No. 8 seeds Stephen Huss of Australia and Pavel Vizner of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday. Bhupathi and Stepanek upset No. 4 seeds Martin
Damm and Leander Paes 6-1, 6-4.

Federer is playing doubles for the third time this year, all with Allegro. Their two victories here are their first in 2006 after losing to Knowles-Nestor in Dubai and Gasquet-Grosjean in Indian Wells. The Swiss duo has a career record of 19-13. They last won an ATP title in Halle last June (d. J. Johansson-Safin) and joined for one other title: Vienna in 2003.

Bhupathi and Stepanek are playing together for the first time in an ATP tournament.