Hopes of a dream final between the world's top two tennis players, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, have been dashed after the pair pulled out injured from their quarter-final matches at the Paris Masters.
Federer withdrew with a back injury a few hours before his match against American James Blake, while Nadal quit his showdown with world number six Nikolay Davydenko after losing the first set 6-1.
Nadal had the trainer massaging his right thigh and knee at the change of ends when trailing 4-1 and threw in the towel two games later.
Their exit left the tournament without any of its top four seeds after number three Novak Djokovic was beaten earlier in the week while fourth-ranked Andy Murray has lost his quarter final 7-6 6-3 to an inspired David Nalbandian.
Nalbandian will meet Davydenko in the last four while Blake will take on 13th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.
