May 20, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1429

HAMBURG (Germany), May 19: Spain’s Rafael Nadal struck a telling psychological blow a week before the French Open by beating world No 1 Roger Federer in the final of the Hamburg Masters on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Spaniard claimed the only Masters Series event on clay to have eluded him by ousting the Swiss top seed 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 to give him the perfect preparation for the defence of his Roland Garros crown in Paris.

Federer, the defending champion who ended Nadal’s record 81-match unbeaten run on clay in last year’s Hamburg final, began the match strongly, opening up a 5-1 lead and twice serving for the set.

But Nadal refused to lie down and reeled off the next six games to take the first set and then broke the Federer serve in the opening game of the second.

The Swiss broke back twice and missed a chance to level the match serving at 5-3 but upped his game in the tiebreak, winning it 7-3.

Nadal got the crucial break in the fourth game of the deciding set and closed out the match with a whipped crosscourt backhand winner after just under three hours of play.

“Rafa has played incredibly well again the whole week and the whole clay season,” Federer told the 11,000 spectators at the Rothenbaum after accepting his runners-up trophy.

Nadal now has a 10-6 winning record against Federer and 8-1 on clay.

The Mallorcan beat both of his closest rivals this week, having defeated world No 3 Novak Djokovic in a thrilling, three-hour semi-final on Saturday.

Nadal took a medical timeout at 2-5 down in the first set on Sunday and said he had taken an anti-inflammatory after feeling a twinge in his right hamstring.

It may be the last time a Masters Series is played in the German port city. The ATP wants to replace the Hamburg event with one in Madrid and the German Tennis Federation (DTB) has challenged the plan in a US court. A decision is expected in August.

JANKOVIC KEEPS TITLE

ROME: Serbian fourth seed Jelena Jankovic cruised past French teenage qualifier Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-2 to retain her Italian Open title on Sunday.

The match got off to a scrappy start and Jankovic found herself 5-1 up largely thanks to a lower error count.

The 18-year-old Cornet pulled a break back with the help of a netcord winner that almost smacked into Jankovic’s head.

The Frenchwoman failed to hold her serve in the following game, however, and conceded the first set by hitting a forehand into the net.

Cornet, who beat Russian sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze and her third-seeded compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the final, burst into tears at 4-1 down in the second set while

the Serbian took a pause to

have treatment on her right shoulder.

Cornet held her next service game and then earned three break points on Jankovic’s serve but the champion saved them all and went on to break again to claim her sixth WTA Tour

title and her first of 2008.

—Reuters