New winning streak starts now, says Nadal

HAMBURG, May 20 (Reuters) Rafael Nadal shrugged off his first clay-court defeat in 82 matches today, saying he would just start again from scratch at the French Open.

''I'm going to start another run,'' the Spanish world number two said when asked for his reaction to a 2-6 6-2 6-0 defeat by Roger Federer in the final of the Hamburg Masters today.

''I don't know if I'll get it up to 81 but that doesn't worry me.'' Nadal's defeat was his first since April 2005, when he lost in Valencia to Igor Andreev of Russia. He went on to win 13 consecutive clay-court tournaments including two French Opens.

After losing to Federer he challenged his rivals to get anywhere near it.

''If anyone wants to try, the record is there at 81,'' he said with a smile. ''That's a lot of matches. It's going to be hard to beat.'' REUTERS AB RAI2354