World number one Roger Federer will aim to put an unusually patchy season behind him with victory number four at the elite Masters Cup starting on Sunday. The defending champion, smarting from two rare defeats in the past month, signalled his determination by arriving nearly a week early for the year-ending showpiece.
"I'd like to get there early and get over the jetlag and get used to the surface over there and hopefully finish well over there," he said after slumping out of the Paris Masters. The twin losses to Argentina's David Nalbandian have highlighted a rare blip by the metronomic Swiss, who has scarcely missed a beat in nearly four years on top of the rankings.
Three more Grand Slams notwithstanding, Federer has been found wanting on several occasions including early-round shocks against Guillermo Canas (twice) and the unheralded Filippo Volandri. His season record of eight losses against 64 wins is a shadow of last year's 92-5 and his 81-4 of 2005.
However, with just two defeats in five appearances, Federer has made the Masters Cup his own and remains the man to beat at the futuristic Qi Zhong Stadium. He has been boosted by a favourable draw against Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Gonzalez, neither of whom have beaten the Swiss, and Andy Roddick, whose last success against Federer was in 2003.
Federer will also be relieved the in-form Nalbandian, his conqueror in Paris and Madrid and in the 2005 Masters final, has not qualified for the eight-man event despite a late charge up the rankings. Clay wizard Rafael Nadal heads the second group of four where all eyes will be on dashing Serb Novak Djokovic, the revelation of the season now ranked third in the world.
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