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French Open preview: Men's singles final

For someone supposed to be hitting a crisis a few weeks back in Rome, Roger Federer hasn't done too badly.
The final all the purists were after has materialised, with Federer set to take on Rafael Nadal in Sunday's final in Paris.

Winner in Hamburg two weeks ago, now the FedEx is one win away from the only Major to elude him, the French Open title.
In reaching Sunday's final he has even managed to write his name in the record books again by making it eight Grand Slam finals in a row to better Aussie Jack Crawford's seven in the 1930s.

Earlier this week he had already matched John McEnroe's 1984 record of 11 Grand Slam matches without dropping a set until he let Tommy Robredo sneak one against him in the quarter-finals.

And to think he has managed that despite parting company recently with coach and former French champion Tony Roche after his shock quarter-final exit in the Rome Masters.

So, having won the Australian Open without dropping a set in January, he is now through to the French final again having dropped just one set.
"Now I'm in a great position to win the tournament," said Federer. "I've played well these two weeks and now there's just one match to go."

Of course, the same could be said of last year. He reached the final and got off to a roaring start by taking the first set 6-1 against Nadal before losing to the Spaniard in four sets.

Now he has the chance of revenge after disposing of Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets in yesterday's first semi-final.
The match lasted just over three hours but it could have been longer if the Russian had taken his chances after being a break up in the first set and serving for the second and third sets.

He has the little boost of having beaten Nadal in Hamburg to end the 21-year-old's 81-match winning run on clay. The question is - can he do it again?

However, Nadal is through to the final as the only man not to drop a set in the Championships - just like Federer did in Melbourne. The Spaniard was just too hot for 20-year-old sixth seed Novak Djokovic to handle and romped through
7-5 6-4 6-2.
Federer and Nadal have met 11 times with Nadal leading 7-4. They have met six times on clay and that Hamburg win last month was the one and only time Federer has got the better of the young matador on the dirt.

They have met twice at Roland Garros - in the 2005 semi-final and last year's final - and each time Federer has taken it to four sets. Maybe it will be third time lucky and the world No 1 from Switzerland will add that French crown to his Aussie, Wimbledon and US Open triumphs.

Federer has 48 titles to his name to Nadal's 21. And of course, Nadal was 21 at the start of the week and is looking to become the first man since Bjorn Borg 30 years ago to win three French titles in a row.

But Nadal's claycourt supremacy counts for a lot and he is trading at 1.46 to put the icing on that 21st birthday cake on Sunday, while Federer is trading at 3.15.