Federer ends Nadal’s clay streak in Hamburg

HAMBURG – Roger Federer brought an end to Rafael Nadal’s 81-match-winning streak on clay yesterday, beating the Spaniard 2-6 6-2 6-0 to win the final of the Hamburg Masters and give his French Open preparations the perfect boost.

The world number one, who had never before beaten the Spaniard on his favourite surface, looked to be in line for his usual humbling in the red dirt as Nadal punished his early mistakes in brutal style to take the first set with a couple of breaks. Federer hit back for an early break in the second, though, and stormed through the final set to seal his first title in five tournaments, so ending his worst slump since he became number one in February 2004.Nadal had won 13 consecutive clay-court titles, including the last two French Opens, during a winning run dating back to April 2005.The last man to beat him had been the Russian Igor Andreev in the quarter-finals in Valencia that year.”If I had to lose to anyone, Roger is the man,” Nadal said out on court.”I congratulate him on a great tournament and wish him luck for the French.”The 20-year-old Spaniard, who had won four tournaments already this year, started well but just seemed to run out of steam after Federer had levelled the match.Whether he can regain his freshness for Roland Garros, starting in a week’s time, is now the big question.Federer, who has never won the French Open, needs to take the Roland Garros title to become only the third man after American Don Budge and Australian Rod Laver to hold all four majors at the same time.* Meanwhile, Jelena Jankovic continued her impressive preparation for the French Open when she beat world number three Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5 6-1 in the final of the Italian Open yesterday.The 22-year-old Serbian, seeded three, was far too consistent for her Russian adversary, who made a series of unforced errors to lose eight of her 10 service games.”It’s an unbelievable win for me.I’ve got better and better through the week,” said Jankovic at the courtside.”I moved so well — that was the key to the match today.She’s such a powerful player and I was just trying to cover as many of her balls as possible.I really didn’t expect to win today.”Nampa-AFPFederer hit back for an early break in the second, though, and stormed through the final set to seal his first title in five tournaments, so ending his worst slump since he became number one in February 2004.Nadal had won 13 consecutive clay-court titles, including the last two French Opens, during a winning run dating back to April 2005.The last man to beat him had been the Russian Igor Andreev in the quarter-finals in Valencia that year.”If I had to lose to anyone, Roger is the man,” Nadal said out on court.”I congratulate him on a great tournament and wish him luck for the French.”The 20-year-old Spaniard, who had won four tournaments already this year, started well but just seemed to run out of steam after Federer had levelled the match.Whether he can regain his freshness for Roland Garros, starting in a week’s time, is now the big question.Federer, who has never won the French Open, needs to take the Roland Garros title to become only the third man after American Don Budge and Australian Rod Laver to hold all four majors at the same time.* Meanwhile, Jelena Jankovic continued her impressive preparation for the French Open when she beat world number three Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5 6-1 in the final of the Italian Open yesterday.The 22-year-old Serbian, seeded three, was far too consistent for her Russian adversary, who made a series of unforced errors to lose eight of her 10 service games.”It’s an unbelievable win for me.I’ve got better and better through the week,” said Jankovic at the courtside.”I moved so well — that was the key to the match today.She’s such a powerful player and I was just trying to cover as many of her balls as possible.I really didn’t expect to win today.”Nampa-AFP