Federer, Clijsters prepared for tough start

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) Men's champion Roger Federer and women's second seed Kim Clijsters will have to overcome gifted grasscourters to win their opening matches when Wimbledon starts today.

Federer plays French 20-year-old Richard Gasquet, who won the Nottingham warmup event on Saturday and almost beat Federer at Halle the previous week.

''He reminds me a bit of me sometimes,'' said the Swiss who needs one win to break Bjorn Borg's record of 41 consecutive victories on grass. ''It's definitely a tricky little first round.'' Clijsters tackles Russian Vera Zvonareva, who won the Edgbaston warmup event a week ago.

The Belgian U.S. Open champion lost in the Eastbourne semi-finals to compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne and the double French Open champion is also in first-round action on Monday.

Henin-Hardenne, the third seed, faces China's Meng Juan bidding to avoid a repeat of her shock first-round defeat last year.

Switzerland's 1997 champion Martina Hingis plays her first match at Wimbledon in five years against Olga Savchuk of Ukraine.

Other men's seeds in action include number four David Nalbandian of Argentina, number seven Mario Ancic of Croatia and and number eight James Blake of the United States.

Briton Tim Henman faces Swede Robin Soderling after the Clijsters match on court one, where action starts at 1200 GMT.

Reuters PM DB0919