2002 Maxima starting problem

My 2002 Maxima has suddenly refused to start. When I turn the ignition on I
hear the fuel pump run for a few seconds. I crank the engine as usual but it
will not fire. A couple of times it fired up but instead of settling to an idle it just
died immediately. There are no engine codes, the battery is fine, it cranks at
a good speed, the fuel pump runs and it was running fine the day before, it
always started first time. I suspect its a fuel problem and was planning to
replace the fuel filter but would the filter block this suddenly?