Nadal Keeps Federer Under Thumb; Agassi v Henman at Queens

Other opening-round match-ups of interest at Queen's are American wildcard Mardy Fish, fresh off his grasscourt win at the Surbiton Challenger, against Brit wildcard Jamie Baker; (10) Thomas Johansson vs. Max "The Beast" Mirnyi; (15) Dmitry Tursunov vs. Brit wildcard Alex Bogdanovic; the struggling Mark Philippoussis vs. Surbiton runner-up Weslie Moodie; Brit hope Andy Murray vs. Serb Janko Tipsarevic; and (9) Robby Ginepri vs. American countryman Paul Goldstein.

Potential quarterfinal match-ups include Nadal or Fish vs. Hewitt, Davydenko vs. Agassi or Henman, (11) Grosjean or Rusedski vs. (3) Roddick, and (5) Blake or Murray vs. (2) Ljubicic.

In last year's final the top-seeded Roddick edged unseeded "Dr." Ivo Karlovic in two tiebreaks.

Returning champs in the field are Roddick (2005-03), Hewitt (2002-00), and Philippoussis (1997).

Highlights of Monday play at Queen's is (12) Agassi vs. Henman, Rusedski vs. (Q) Dupuis, (13) Gael "Force" Monfils vs. Melzer, Gimelstob vs. Sluiter, H.-T. Lee vs. (14) Mathieu, and in doubles Skoch/Wassen vs. (WC) Blake/Fish.

Federer Goes for 4 in a Row at ATP Halle

Three-time Halle defending champion and world No. 1 Roger Federer will try and shake off his mentally debilitating subservient status to world No. 2 Rafael Nadal as he takes to his favorite grasscourts this week at the Gerry Weber Open.

With most of the tour's big guns playing this week at Queen's, the Swiss is joined by a mainly low-powered seeded line-up in Nicolas Kiefer, Jarkko Nieminen, Marcos Baghdatis, Tomas Berdych, former No. 2-ranked Tommy Haas, and Belgians Olivier Rochus and Kristof Vliegen.

Federer opens against Indian qualifier Rohan Bopanna, with other matches of interest including French wunderkind Richard Gasquet against qualifier George "I Beat Pete Sampras at Wimbledon" Bastl, Berdych against German qualifier Benjamin "Not Boris" Becker, and the No. 2-seeded Kiefer against Frenchman Arnaud Clement.

In last year's final Federer defeated No. 2 seed Marat Safin, unseeded in this year's field, in three sets. Former champs in the field are Federer (2005-03) and Kiefer (1999).

Highlights of play Monday in Halle are (WC) Waske vs. (7) O.Rochus, (WC) Kohlschreiber vs. (3) Nieminen, (4) Baghdatis vs. (WC) Pavel, Schuettler vs. Soderling, and (8) Vliegen vs. Wawrinka.

Sharapova Lone Top 10er at WTA Birmingham

Former Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova will try and resurrect her mojo this week as defending champion at the DFS Classic in Birmingham.

"It is very exciting to be back because it is my favorite time of the year when I am playing on grass," said Sharapova, still dealing with an injured ankle. "Usually all my injuries go away when I am playing on this court. I feel I have incorporated a lot of new things into my game and physically I am a lot stronger than I was a year ago. I feel like I am improving with every match."

The only Top 10 player in the field, the Russian is joined among the Top 8 seeds by Francesca Schiavone, Daniela Hantuchova, Elena Likhovtseva, Ai Sugiyama, Marion Bartoli, Anna Chakvetadze and Jelena Jankovic.

Stand-outs among the lower seeds are slumping Indian star Sania Mirza and Aussie Sam Stosur.

In last year's final the top-seeded Sharapova beat the No. 3-seeded Jankovic in three sets.

Seeds in action Monday at Birmingham are Czink vs. Arvidsson, Granville vs. Yan, Washington vs. N.Li, Sucha vs. Castano, and Santangelo vs. Laine.

Federer Frustrated Again as Nadal Wins French

World No. 1 Roger Federer has lost to only one player in 2006. Four times.

No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal won his second consecutive French Open title Sunday, turning back Federer after a tentative start 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(4) for his tour-leading fifth title of the year.

Again, like their claycourt finals this year at Monte Carlo and Rome, Nadal concentrated on the Federer backhand, serving exclusively to the Swiss' left one-handed wing, and during rallies attempting to stay away from the devastating Federer forehand.

While Federer remains dominant with a huge lead over the Spaniard on the ATP Rankings, it was the third consecutive tournament loss for the Swiss, who is 44-4 on the season, with every loss to Nadal.

Nadal lost the first five games of the contest, content to keep the ball in play while Federer was at his aggressive best. In the second set the Spaniard upped his aggression meter while the wheels came off for the Swiss. The third set began with both players settled into their games, and Nadal proceeded to unsettle the Swiss with his lefty spin and whip-crack forehand, at one point breaking the Swiss from 0-40 down.

Nadal improved to a perfect 14-0 at Roland Garros, with a claycourt streak now at 60 matches.

"I think this victory is more important for me because I was injured in the beginning of the season," said Nadal, who missed the Australian Open and therefore his chance to overtake the Swiss for the No. 1 ranking in 2006. "It's true that if Federer loses no matches whatsoever, I will not be No. 1. I have to improve. But with the points that I'm winning, if Federer hadn't been there, I would have been No. 1...I can prepare myself well, and maybe when he will come down a little bit, then I might be able to have the sufficient level to become No. 1."

The loss snapped Federer's 27-match winning streak in Grand Slam matches.

"I definitely felt that second set was a big turning point," Federer said. "If just there I can keep up with him and then put him really under big pressure, maybe lead two sets to love, then obviously it's very different...That I make mistakes on my backhand side, with the aggression of Nadal, that's normal. I saw I did a few too many on that side. I wasn't as consistent today unfortunately like I was in Rome or maybe even in Monaco."

In his post-match conference Federer was uncharacteristically short with reporters.

"I tried, and I cannot do any more than that," Federer said. "Obviously it's a pity, but life goes on. I'll probably hear for years that I missed my opportunity, but I have no choice but to accept it. It is still my goal to win here, and once again I got one step closer."

Raymond/Stosur Win French Open Womens Doubles

American Lisa Raymond completed a career Grand Slam Sunday in Paris, capturing the French Open title with partner Sam Stosur after breezing through a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 5 seeds Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama for their tour-leading sixth title of the year.

"Playing these guys, we've struggled with them in the past, so for us to go out there and beat them as decisively as we did feels good," Raymond said. "Especially to do it in a Grand Slam final."

The win avenged a loss to the pair in their only previous meeting last year in Zurich.

"We played very well," Stosur said. "We both served well. It was hard for them to get a sniff on either of our serves. Lisa did a great job serving it out."

Raymond and Stosur have made the final at all three Slams they've participated in since first teaming last year, with a 2-1 record in Slam finals.

"To come back and get this one and after the disappointment at the Aussie, we certainly didn't want that to happen again," Stosur said. "To go out there and win but also to win so comfortably on the scoreboard is a great feeling."

Raymond is the 13th woman in the Open Era to complete the career doubles Slam, joining Margaret Court, Martina Navratilova, Kathy Jordan, Anne Smith, Pam Shriver, Jana Novotna, Helena Sukova, Gigi Fernandez, Natasha Zvereva, Martina Hingis and the Williams sisters.

"To finally get the French Open, get that monkey off my back, it feels great," Raymond said. "The first thing I said to Sam when we won was, 'Thank you for finally getting me this title.' I think I have like three or four doubles and two mixed finals here, trophies, that I don't even want to look at. To finally be able to win here, to complete the Slam, that's just an unbelievable feeling."

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Closing the French Open file: Rafael Nadal has won 13 straight finals dating to the Miami final loss to Roger Federer in 2005; Federer's last clay title came last year at Hamburg, and this was his first loss in eight Slam finals; Federer's previous Slam loss came at Roland Garros last year to Nadal (27 straight Slam matches); only the first match in the Federer-Nadal series went straight sets; Nadal is on a 60-match claycourt win streak, in the final won his 100th career clay match, and is a perfect 14-0 at Roland Garros, never losing (or playing) in the RG juniors...Mardy Fish beat top-seeded Weslie Moodie in the final of the Surbiton Challenger on grass over the weekend...Both Andy Roddick (Queen's) and Roger Federer (Halle) are three-time defending champions this week on grass...From Greg Garber writing for ESPN: "On Sunday, [Roger] Federer lost the French Open final to Rafael Nadal in four sets. Afterward, he was uncharacteristically cranky. Asked about the second set, which he lost after winning the first with ease, he replied, "You didn't watch the match?" He was almost curt, approaching surly. And he never answered the question. Federer appeared hugely disappointed with the result -- as well he should be. He had viable opportunities to take control of the second, third and even the fourth set, but failed in every case."...Rafael Nadal on his plans this week: "I'm playing doubles on Tuesday at Queens, so not too much celebrating. I have singles and doubles at Queens. This year I want to play with concentration on grass. I want to practice a lot. Is difficult to go to grass, because when I slide I don't slide with confidence. But I've got three weeks with grass. I'm going to try. That's all I can say -- I'll try."...From SI.com's Jon Wertheim: "Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi defended their doubles title again beating the Bryan Brothers in the final. Sadly, the match was played after the women's final, before 1,000 fans, max. For the duration of the match -- a good one that ended 7-5 in the third -- not a soul sat in the massive box behind the baseline. Question: why not put this match on at 1:00 before the women's final and play a super-tiebreak in the third set if need be? Doubles ought to be tennis warmup band; not its afterthought."...If Mark Philippoussis gets a Wimbledon wildcard, may as well toss one to Donald Young also, or maybe Andre Agassi's kid...Nicole Vaidisova has pulled from Eastbourne.