Federer facing date with destiny

Roger Federer remains on course to become only the third man in his history to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.

The Swiss sensation will bid to emulate Don Budge and Rod Laver by adding the French Open to his victories at Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open.

“I have created a fabulous opportunity for myself, so we’ll see if I can make it good,” said Federer.

“I’m happy that I got this far. If I win the tournament, it will be something special because I’ll be winning two things at the same time.”

Federer advanced to the final at Roland Garros when David Nalbandian was forced to retire hurt when trailing the world number one 6-3 4-6 2-5.

Standing in his way of another major title, however, is king of clay Rafael Nadal.

The 20-year-old defending champion outclassed fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic from Croatia, winning 6-4 6-2 7-6 (9/7) in two hours and 49 minutes.

That extended Nadal’s winning run on clay to 59 matches and maintained his 100% record at Roland Garros.

The Spanish second seed will be looking for a third clay-court final win over Federer in recent months following Nadal’s victories at Monte Carlo and Rome. He also beat Federer in their first final of the year at February’s hard-court event in Dubai.

The Swiss star has only one success over his left-handed Spanish nemesis, who leads their personal duel 5-1.

“This match has been at the centre of all attention since the tournament started,” Nadal added. “This is going to be a great encounter between the world number one and two. I will try my best.”

Today’s women’s final sees eighth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova take on the fifth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne, of Belgium.