Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal could meet in the U.S. Open final for the first time.

The No. 1-seeded Federer and No. 3 Nadal were drawn into opposite halves of the field for the U.S. Open, which begins Monday. They have played in seven major finals as Nos. 1-2, including at each of the other three Grand Slam tournaments, with Nadal holding a 5-2 edge.

But because Nadal recently fell to third in the rankings, there was a possibility the two men who have dominated tennis in recent years would wind up on the same side of the bracket in New York.

Instead, 15-time Grand Slam champion Federer has No. 4 Novak Djokovic and No. 5 Andy Roddick in his half. Federer, who is seeking a sixth consecutive U.S. Open championship, edged Roddick 16-14 in the fifth set of the Wimbledon final in July.

The potential men's quarterfinals are Federer vs. No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko, and Roddick vs. Djokovic in the top half; No. 2 Andy Murray vs. No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro, and Nadal vs. No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the bottom half.

Nadal could face Murray in the semifinals for the second straight year at the U.S. Open; Murray upset Nadal in 2008 to reach his first Grand Slam final.

Nadal's first Grand Slam action since his fourth-round loss at the French Open will start with an intriguing opponent: Richard Gasquet, the former top-10 player coming off a 2 1/2-month suspension for testing positive for cocaine.

Federer starts off against American wild-card recipient Devin Britton, an 18-year-old who won the NCAA singles championship for Mississippi in May.

Federer, trying to become the first man since the 1920s to win the tournament six years in a row, could play two-time major champion Lleyton Hewitt in the third round, U.S. Davis Cup player James Blake in the fourth, and French Open runner-up Robin Soderling or U.S. Open Series winner Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals.