Federer falls in German clay final

Roger Federer has lost to Rafael Nadal 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 at the Hamburg Masters tennis tournament in Germany.

The clay court final on Sunday afternoon had brought together the world’s two top-ranked players, who last faced each other in Monte Carlo in April.

The world number one had overcome Nadal, dubbed the “King of Clay”, in Hamburg last year.

It took Nadal just under three hours to dispatch Federer in their last match of the $3.5 million (SFr3.66 million) tournament.

Nadal now holds a 9-1 record on clay against Federer, a fierce on-court rival, who has remained the top-ranked player on the ATP Tour for a record 225 straight weeks.

But one week before the start of the French Open, the only grand slam title that Federer is yet to win, Sunday’s loss could not have boosted the top-ranked player’s confidence, although he tried to look unconcerned.

“I felt I played the right type of game from the baseline. I could have served a little better; it wasn’t my best performance maybe. I have to go for big serves, he is a good return player. It was a fun match,” Federer said.

Sunday’s loss did nothing to improve Federer’s worst season since he became No. 1 in February 2004. He had mononucleosis at the start of the year and already has seven losses for 26 wins. His only title so far came at a relatively minor clay-court tournament in Estoril, Portugal, and he lost in the Rome quarterfinals last week.

“I played three hours and I had no physical problems whatsoever, so that’s good. I’ll take two days’ rest and hopefully I’ll be ready for Paris, Federer said.