The men’s draw this year was bound to revolve around two men. The King of Clay returned to the grand slams for the first time since being unceremoniously dumped out of Wimbledon while the world. No.1 renews his bid at the one major that eludes him. However due to Rafael Nadal’s long time out, the two favourites would not automatically fall in opposite sections and was undoubtedly the most anticipated outcome of today’s draw. As it turned out, Rafa was drawn in Djokovic’s half leaving us awaiting a mouthwatering clash in the semifinal.

This has also given the other contenders a new lease of life especially with the withdrawal of Murray. Roger Federer is the biggest beneficiary as his section is clear of fellow Big Four members giving him a real shot at his 6^th final on the red clay. The main nearly-men waiting to make their breakthroughs include the ever present Ferrer, the dangerous Berdych and the charismatic Tsonga while waiting in the wings are outsiders Jerzy Janowicz and Benoit Paire among others. Let’s then delve into the draw to glean what we can about how things might just pan out over the next 15 days at Roland Garros

It has been 7 years since the 2006 Rome Masters final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. That was one of the few times that the Swiss Maestro came close to challenging the ‘King of Clay’ on his favourite surface.  The young Spaniard saved numerous match points and came back from 2-5 down in the final set tie break to pull off a famous win and improve his head to head against the then world no.1 Roger Federer to 5-1.

Till 2008, the Nadal-Federer rivalry was one of the greatest the sport had ever seen. It all culminated at the 2008 Wimbledon final where the Spaniard sealed an emphatic victory to take the crown from the Federer Express. Since then, the duo, who have 28 Slams between them, have faced off 12 times and the 7 time French Open champion has emerged victorious 8 times, truly making him the 31 year old's kryptonite, an obstacle he just cannot seemed to cross.

Day 5 of the 2013 Italian Open was witness to two top 10 upsets. In the first of those, France’s Benoit Paire ousted 7th seed Juan Martin Del Potro in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(3). 9th seed Richard Gasquet put up more off a fight before he was shown the door by up and comer Jerzy Janowicz who rallied for a 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 victory.

The other top 10 matches scheduled for the day had more or less predictable results. The top two seeds in Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer sailed through their 3rd round encounters to progress quite comfortably to the last eight while 5th seed David Ferrer was given a walkover as a result of Phillip Kohschreiber’s withdrawal due to dizziness. World no. 6 Tomas Berdych continued his dominance over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson with a 7-5, 6-2 victory, his fourth 2013 defeat of the big serving Anderson .

Tuesday was a day packed with tennis with both the men’s 1st and 2nd round match ups taking place on the same day. The morning session was witness to the opening round matches that saw 13th seed Tommy Haas, 15th seed Stanislas Wawrinka and giant killers Lukas Rosol and Horacio Zeballos in action. Wawrinka was the sole survivor of that quartet, but only after fighting back from a set deficit against qualifier Carlos Berlocq 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

Later in the day, World no 1 Novak Djokovic and 2nd seed Roger Federer took to the courts, returning to the thick of it after early exits in Madrid. Both looked to be confident and in sublime touch in their straight set defeats of Albert Montanes and Potito Starace, respectively. Joining them on Thursday in round 3 will be 6th seed Tomas Berdych, 7th seed Juan Martin Del Potro and 9th seed Richard Gasquet who came through comfortably in their 2nd round matches.

The seeds continued to topple at the 2013 Madrid Masters as world no.2 and defending champion Roger Federer joined his arch rival Novak Djokovic in the ‘upsets’ category after his defeat at the hands of Japan’s Kei Nishikori in three sets on Thursday.  5th seed Rafael Nadal, however, was in his usual ‘king of clay’ mode and dominated Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 6-3 to set up an all Spanish quarterfinal against 4th seed David Ferrer, who came through in three hard fought sets against German Tommy Haas.

The Swiss Maestro’s swift dismissal of Radek Stepanek in the 2nd round gave a sign that he had returned to tennis without any ring rust. That belief proved to be misplaced as he was shown the door by youngster Nishikori in 95 minutes 4-6, 6-1, 2-6.

A lot was riding on the Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal match in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Masters. Not only was it the resumption of one of the greatest rivalries the sport has ever seen but both players had a lot at stake. Federer was the defending champion and needed to win to keep his no.2 ranking, while Nadal was keen to prove that he could still compete with the best in the world after his seven month layoff.

In the end, that match was a bit off an anti-climax with a noticeably injured Federer being dominated by the Spaniard from the baseline for an easy 6-4, 6-2 victory in 84 minutes.

The stakes at the BNP Paribas Masters just got higher as the quality of the tennis improved to another level with the big guns having to carve out their victories in long matches to move into the quarterfinals. World No.2 Roger Federer narrowly avoided defeat as he edged out compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5. Joining him in the last eight is 3rd seed Andy Murray who won against a feisty Carlos Berlocq in straight sets 7-6, 6-4. Eight seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga also came through in a similarly hard fought encounter and came back from a set down to see off Canadian Milos Raonic 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Kevin Anderson and Tomas Berdych also won their respective fourth round encounters to set up a great quarterfinal match-up.

Roger Federer dominated his compatriot for the better part of the first two sets and was serving for the match at 6-3, 5-4 up but the 18th seed broke Federer’s serve to love and forced the match to a tiebreak which he won 7-4. The momentum swung Wawrinka’s way and he used it to go 3-1 up in the third set putting all the pressure on the 2nd seed. Federer though was up to the challenge and he broke back to level proceedings, eventually winning the last set 7-5.