January 15, 2007	Monday	Zilhaj 24, 1427

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MELBOURNE, Jan 14: Roger Federer, a rare loss to Andy Roddick notwithstanding, is all the rage to chase down his third Australian Open title over the next fortnight.

The Swiss world No 1, who has dominated men's tennis for three years, kicks off his title defence against German 83rd-ranked Bjorn Phau on Monday.

Only eight players in the Open Era (post-1969) have successfully defended their Australian Open crown, the last time by Andre Agassi in 2001.

Federer suffered a rare defeat by Andy Roddick in Saturday's final of the Kooyong Classic tournament here, but the American put it into perspective when he said he would gladly swap the Kooyong trophy for the Australian Open title.

The Swiss maestro is chasing his 10th career Grand Slam triumph over the next fortnight and if he reaches the January 28 final it will be his seventh consecutive major final since 2005 Wimbledon.

Only Australian Jack Crawford has a longer Slam sequence than Federer of seven, set back in 1933-34.

“It's going to be hard to repeat last year's season. I mean, I had a great last few years,” Federer said Sunday.

If Federer, is, as expected, going to play in the final, that doesn't bode well for the chances of Roddick, 2005 champion Marat Safin and last year's finalist Marcos Baghdatis, who are all in the same half of the draw.

World No 2 Rafael Nadal is the man considered the best chance to topple Federer.

The 20-year-old Spaniard, who downed Federer in four finals last year, says he has recovered from a right thigh injury that forced him out of last week's Sydney International.

Lleyton Hewitt, who lost to Safin in the 2005 final, back-to-back Sydney International winner James Blake, rising British teenager Andy Murray, world number three Nikolay Davydenko and Argentine David Nalbandian are all in Nadal's side of the draw, and away from Federer.

American power-server Roddick, now with Jimmy Connors, has struggled in Melbourne, often rolling through the early rounds before coming undone in the second week.

Baghdatis captivated last year's Open when, ranked 54, he knocked over top-10 players in Roddick, Ivan Ljubicic and Nalbandian to reach the final where he went down in four sets to Federer.

Safin may be ranked 26 but he has won and been twice runner-up in his last four trips to Melbourne, so he has the game, power and ability.

On the women’s side, Kim Clijsters has emerged as the form player with Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo snapping at her heels.

The Belgian, who retires at the end of the year, has won the Champions Challenge in Hong Kong and the Sydney International in the lead-up to the Australian Open, signalling her intentions to go out with a bang.

“I'm very happy with the way that I played. What I'm more happy with is that I didn't start the (Sydney) tournament off playing great, but I still felt like I was improving compared to Hong Kong,” she said.

The no-show of world No 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne, reportedly due to marital problems, has removed one key obstacle to Clijsters winning her first ever Australian Open, but plenty more remain.

Defending champion Mauresmo shed her tag as the best player not to claim a major by winning here last year when Henin-Hardenne walked off centre court with a stomach complaint midway through the final.

The Frenchwoman went on to win Wimbledon and now she has savoured Grand Slam success, she wants more.

“I think once you've tasted it, you want more. It is really what drives you – the emotions that you feel in these moments,” she said.

As well as Henin-Hardenne, the tournament has been deprived of stalwart Lindsay Davenport, who is pregnant.

Davenport is 30 and said last month that “I can't imagine playing again”.

Former world No 1 Venus Williams will also be missing, with a left wrist injury forcing her to withdraw on Wednesday. But sister Serena, who has plummeted to 94 in the rankings after an injury-plagued 2006, is raring to go and believes she can regain the form that led her to seven Grand Slam titles, including the Australian Open in 2003 and 2005.

She was knocked out in the quarter-finals of her warm-up tournament in Hobart but is happy with how she is playing.

Reigning US Open champion Sharapova, beaten by Clijsters in her only warm up tournament in Hong Kong, reached the semi-finals here last year and said she is is ready to go all the way this year.

“I'm just ready to take it to the next level, hopefully get to the final or win it,” she said.

Martina Hingis, who shocked the tennis world by making a comeback to the professional game in Australia last year after being out for three years with injury, should not be ruled out of adding to her three Australian titles.

Playing on a wildcard last year, the Swiss Miss has clawed her way back to No 7 in the world.

The Russian fleet of Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safin should also be knocking on the door.

The Chinese charge is led by Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai, with Asian eyes focused on how they perform after a breakthrough year in 2006.—AFP