August 28, 2007	Tuesday	Sha’aban 14, 1428

NEW YORK, Aug 27: Weeks of tense tennis preparation finally started being put to the test on Monday as the US Open began with anticipation for afternoon opening matches by world number ones Roger Federer and Justine Henin.

Swiss superstar Federer, seeking his 12th Grand Slam title and fourth US Open crown in a row, was set to face US qualifier Scoville Jenkins in day one's only men's match at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the year's final Grand Slam event.

Not since Bill Tilden's title run from 1920 to 1925 has anyone won four consecutive US Opens.

Top seed Federer, chasing the all-time Slam record of 14 titles set by Pete Sampras, begins his 187th week in a row atop the rankings to break the record streak as world No 1 that he has shared with Steffi Graf's 1987-1991 run.

Federer, 26, is 45-6 with two Slam triumphs among his five titles this year, taking Wimbledon for the fifth year in a row after winning his third Australian Open title in four years. He also won a key US Open tune-up at Cincinnati.

Should he defeat his 320th-ranked American rival in round one, Federer will face another qualifier – Germany's Rainer Schuettler or Chile's Paul Capdeville.

Henin, who opens against 145th-ranked German teen qualifier Julia Goerges, will try to win her seventh Slam title after taking her fourth French Open crown in June at Roland Garros.

Henin, 25, won her other Slam titles at the 2004 Australian Open and the 2003 US Open, when she outlasted Jennifer Capriati in an epic semi-final then beat Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters in the final.

Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic was the first to walk into Arthur Ashe Stadium for a match, her opener against Slovakian Jarmila Gajdosova the debut effort for the Flushing Meadows fortnight.

Eight-time Slam champion Serena Williams and six-time Slam winner Venus Williams were set for the first night session at the event following a ceremony to honour the late Althea Gibson, the first black player to win a Slam title.

Gibson, who died in 2003, won the 1956 French championship for her landmark breakthrough and captured the US Open and Wimbledon crowns in 1957 and 1958.

Eighth-seeded Serena Williams, the reigning Australian Open champion, will open against Germany's Angelique Kerber while her 12th-seeded sister plays her first match against Hungarian qualifier Kira Nagy.

The Williams sisters and Henin were all bracketed in the same half of the draw while the other side contains second seed Maria Sharapova, the defending US Open champion, and fellow Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded fourth, and Anna Chakvetadze, seeded sixth.

Other first-day matches include British 19th seed Andy Murray, who missed the past two Slams with a wrist injury going against Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas and Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko taking on American Jesse Levine.—AFP