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HAMBURG - Roger Federer is itching to get his French Open campaign started after beating Rafael Nadal on clay for the first time in yesterday's Hamburg Masters final.
Federer, playing more aggressively than in his five previous defeats by Nadal on clay, came from a set down to
win 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 and break the Spaniard's 81-match winning streak on that surface, a run dating from April 2005.
"It's absolutely a breakthrough," Federer said. "It will be interesting to see how we both react to it in Paris."
Federer's first title in five tournaments ended his worst run of form since he became world No 1 in 2004 - and it came in the first week since he split from coach Tony Roche.
"For me it's just nice to be playing well again," said Federer, who has won 10 grand slams titles, but never the French Open on his least-favoured surface, clay.
"It's not that I was playing so badly but it's my first clay-court title in a couple of years."
The French Open starts next Monday at Roland Garros.
Nadal congratulated the Swiss on being the man to end his winning streak. Nadal, 20, French Open champion for the past two years, put the defeat down to a punishing run that had already brought him four titles this year.
"I was mentally just a little off," he said. "You can tell I was not quite right because taking a set off me 6-0 on clay is not that easy.
"But I'm very happy to have reached the final. I think I'm playing better than ever."
For Justine Henin, triumph in Paris would mean a lot more to her than simply capturing a hat-trick of Roland Garros crowns.
Victory would give the 24-year-old Belgian some much-needed joy after one of the most turbulent chapters in her personal life. Since professional tennis began in 1968, only Monica Seles - in 1990-92 - has notched up three wins in a row in Paris.
Henin will have that record in her sights next week.
There is no doubt that 2006 was Henin's year - during which she won more titles, more matches and more prize money than any of her rivals.
She also reached the finals of all four grand slams and finished the season by beating Amelie Mauresmo in the final of the season-ending championships in November to return to the world No 1 spot.
During the majority of those matches, she appeared to draw strength from the courtside presence of her husband, Pierre-Yves Hardenne.
But the breakdown of their four-year marriage and her subsequent withdrawal from the Australian Open in January threatened to kill off the momentum.
In her absence, the No 1 ranking she had worked so hard to regain was snatched by Maria Sharapova.
Many questioned whether she would be in the right state mentally to play at her top level when she returned to the circuit.
Although her entourage was visibly smaller, Henin wasted little time in proving her doubters wrong.
She came back at the indoor event in Paris at the start of February, reaching the semifinals.
Just weeks later she showed she was back to her best by winning back-to-back titles in Dubai and Doha and by March she had climbed back to the top of the world standings.
In her build-up to the French Open, she has won just one clay-court tournament, in Warsaw, but that has failed to dampen her spirits.
"I have managed to get good some warm-ups in the last two weeks. I have played some tough matches and I feel confident ahead of the French Open," she said.
While most people would count Mauresmo, Sharapova and Serena Williams - who have all been struggling with form or injuries - as the Belgian's main rivals in Paris, the reigning title-holder picked Svetlana Kuznetsova as the one player who could derail her championship charge next week.
"Clay is Svetlana's favourite surface. She has the potential to go all the way," said Henin.
"How a player does at a grand slam depends on so many things.
"We have to look at the draw, the playing conditions, or if somebody is sick or injured," she said.
- REUTERS
