ROME, 14 May 2006 — Top seed Roger Federer and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal will renew their thrilling rivalry when they clash in the Rome Masters final today.

Federer had to win a third-set tiebreaker to beat Argentina’s David Nalbandian 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7 5) while defending champion Nadal cruised into the final with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Frenchman Gael Monfils.

The Spaniard’s 77-minute win took his clay court record to 16-0 in 2006 while victory on Sunday will pull him level with Gullermo Vilas on 53 straight clay-court wins, a mark set in 1977. Today’s best-of-five-set showdown will be a replay of last month’s Monte Carlo Masters title match, which Nadal won — his fourth win in five meetings with the Swiss. But the 19-year-old Nadal, the reigning French Open champion, continues to respect his Swiss rival.

Federer, who lost the 2003 edition at the Foro Italico to Spain’s Felix Mantilla, admitted to moments of concern as he tried to close his two-hour, 42-minute encounter against Nalbandian.

Henin-Hardenne Outplays Mauresmo in Berlin

Belgium’s Justine Henin-Hardenne made her racket speak more eloquently than a thousand words when she outplayed Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-1, 6-2 to reach the final of the German Open.

It was their first meeting since the controversial Australian Open final in January when Henin retired unwell in the second set, creating an anti-climactic finish to Mauresmo’s first Grand Slam title triumph.

Henin was widely criticized for that decision and Mauresmo conspicuously did not distance herself from that criticism. Now the Belgian gave her answer with a stunning display which overwhelmed the world No. 1 from France.

Mauresmo graciously refused to use the excuse of having already played out the rest of her quarterfinal with Martina Hingis earlier yesterday. Henin agreed that it had been the best she had played for a long time but denied that it had been related to what had happened in Australia. Henin leapt into the attack right at the beginning and continued so intensely that it was clear she was pumped up to an unusual degree. She broke Mauresmo’s serve at once with an audacious drop, broke again with a fierce forehand winner taken from the backhand side, and kept up the battering right through the first set. Henin was particularly punishing with her forehand, with which she generated surprising power for so slight a figure, and not always her stronger wing. There was a brief respite when Henin played one indifferent game to lose her break of serve advantage in the second set, but she regained it at once to reach 4-2.

She now has a repeat of last year’s final against Nadia Petrova. The second-seeded Russian won the other semifinal even more easily as Li Na, playing in her first tier one tournament semifinal, was quite unable to find the tenacity which had enabled her to beat the fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder. The woman from Wuhan in Hubei province appeared with a thigh heavily bandaged and looking distinctly jaded, and was overwhelmed 6-1, 6-0 by Petrova in only 45 minutes. It earned the second-seeded Russian the second tier one final of her career, and carried her 2006 wins total — the highest on the women’s tour — to 32.