Masters Cup Final

Like David Nalbandian when he beat Federer to win the title last year, the New Yorker was the eighth and final player to qualify for the $4.45 million tournament.

"I heard in China the number eight is lucky," he said. "Apparently it's worked out well so far. I heard last year Nalbandian got in as number eight. Maybe it will be two years in a row."

Blake ended the Argentine's title defence 6-4 6-1 in the semi-finals on Saturday but has never beaten the dominant Swiss in five career meetings.

"I would describe him on the court as an artist, in my mind the greatest of all time," Blake said.

"I feel like I have no pressure and I'm going to have some fun. I think that's when I play my best tennis. So I think the crowd, hopefully, will be in for some good shot making between the two of us, some great defence, some great points."

Federer dropped his only set in their five encounters when they met in this year's U.S. Open quarter-finals.

"It was definitely the best I've played against him," Blake said of his 7-6 6-0 6-7 6-4 defeat.

"I felt good about the fact that I actually had to push him to kind of step his game up .. so I was proud of that. And hopefully tomorrow I can do a little better, you never know.

"I could come out and just have a terrible day and he could just run over me. That would be unfortunate but I know I've prepared the best I can. So I won't hang my head in shame. He's a great player. He's going to do that to a lot of people."

World number eight Blake has made a remarkable comeback since breaking his neck in 2004 and Federer said after beating Rafael Nadal 6-4 7-5 in his semi-final that he hoped to meet him in the final.

"With James, we've had a few matches this season, in Miami and Indian Wells, at the U.S. Open. We've always had good matches," said the Swiss.

"So I would like to play James, to be honest. He's one of the fantastic stories in our game. Very much fair play."