Federer steps back into the fray on clay in Rome

May 6, 2006, 17:03 GMT

Rome - World number 1 Roger Federer begins the French Open Grand Slam buildup against Argentine Juan Chela while second seed Rafael Nadal faces his Spanish mentor Carlos Moya in the first round of the Rome Masters Series tournament starting Monday.

Federer, losing finalist a fortnight ago to the reigning French Open champion Nadal, is aiming to keep the teenaged Spaniard from dominating this clay season as he did in a torrid 2005.

But Nadal is well on his way to doing just that after winning Monte Carlo - over Federer - and Barcelona titles last month.

While the top pair have a lot of tennis to play before any eventual final at the Foro Italico, Federer can't help but dream of improving a 1-4 record against his rival.

'Matches against Rafael are going to help me,' explained the Swiss Federer, whose only missing Grand Slam title is the Paris one.

'I've got to make tough decisions in a split second right away because (his shots) are always coming from the left-hand side. I think I'm actually going to improve a lot by playing more against him,' he said.

Federer missed Rome last year with a foot injury, lost in the second round in 2004 to Albert Costa and was beaten in the 2003 final by Spain's Felix Mantilla in straight sets.

Nadal will have a psychological barrier to leap in his opening match when he faces his mentor and best mate in tennis, Carlos Moya, involved this week at the Estoril Open.

Moya put his young friend out in the second round on hard court in Miami last March, and the pair's struggle on clay will break a 2-2 career deadlock.

Croatian Ivan Ljubicic takes the third seeding, beginning with a match against Slovak Dominik Hrbaty.

Clay ace David Nalbandian of Argentina is seeded fourth and opens against a qualifier.

Fifth seed American Andy Roddick makes a delayed season start on the clay he detests, facing off against Romanian big man Victor Hanescu, a French Open quarter-finalist last year.

Former world number 1 Lleyton Hewitt will miss the tournament next week for the second year running.

The Australian, his ranking down to 14th and his last title 15 months in the past, will instead spend the week training in Sydney, where clay courts are scarce.

Hewitt's absence from the 'required' ATP event will be added to those of Andre Agassi (missing the entire clay season), injured Frenchman Richard Gasquet and Russian Igor Andreev.