After a shaky start to the season, world No. 1
Roger Federer has seemingly found his footing on the red clay, Saturday pounding No. 17 seed and former No. 1
Lleyton Hewitt 6-0, 6-4 to gain the final at the ATP Masters Series-Hamburg.
Federer was coming off an easy quarterfinal win where he dispatched of former French winner
Carlos Moya in straight sets, and was never threatened by Hewitt.
"He was just too good," said Hewitt, who held a 7-3 advantage over Federer going into the match, but had never faced the Swiss on clay. "In that form he's going to be tough to beat for anyone."
The win sets up a potential match-up for Federer with the next-in-line for the King of Clay title,
Guillermo Coria, who has won 30 consecutive matches on the dirt and faces
Ivan Ljubicic in the other semi.
Federer first won at Hamburg in 2002.
"Of course it's been great preparation for me for the French Open but just to say that does not give enough credit to the Masters in Hamburg," Federer said of the top-tier ATP event.
