ROGER FEDERER believes victory at the Masters Cup would give him the perfect platform to dominate in 2005. The world No 1 heads to Houston where, he begins the season-ending event against Gaston Gaudio this week, looking for his 11th title of the year. "I've already locked up the No 1 ranking so that puts away a lot of pressure. I can just concentrate on winning the title," said Federer. "My goal is to stay as long as possible at No 1 next year. It seems like next year already. I want to keep the momentum of 2004 going." Federer has been troubled by a thigh injury in recent weeks, but said: "I do feel I'm able to play but I have to start slow." Among the many incredible achievements of the 23-year-old Swiss is a run of 18 matches undefeated against top-10 rivals, stretching back to his victory in Houston 12 months ago. And despite the French Open being the only Grand Slam title he is lacking, Federer insisted: "The most important one to me is Wimbledon. I would like to win three in a row." Marat Safin looks to be the most likely challenger to Federer, having won indoor titles in Beijing in September, Madrid in October and Paris this month. "I want to finish the year really well," said the Russian. "You have to play well all year to fight for No 1. "At the start of this year I was 89th and I will finish fourth. Whatever I do in Houston I will be very happy. "Hopefully next year I will be more stable all year. That's the most important thing." World No 2 Andy Roddick, the home favourite, came to Houston as the No 1 last year and is determined to get the top spot back, despite a losing 8- 1 record against Federer. "I feel like I'm close. It's tough to go from close to get over that little hump," said Roddick. "Roger gets me when we get into extended matches. It's more of me getting into an extended mindset. "With Roger, you can't say, 'This is a weakness.' You have to say, 'What can I do most effectively against him?'" Tim Henman will open his Masters Cup campaign in Houston against Roddick. The Briton is in the blue group with Roddick, Safin and Guillermo Coria for the season-ending event. Federer's opener against Gaudio will be followed by Lleyton Hewitt against Carlos Moya. Henman won his only encounter with Roddick this year at Indian Wells in February and has a 3-1 career record against the American. However, Roddick will have the vociferous backing of a partisan crowd. After a round-robin of matches the top two players in each group will progress to the semi-finals. "The round-robin format allows for a little margin for error but everybody will want to get off to a good start, so the first match will be important as it will set the tone for the remainder of the week," said Henman. Henman has not won a title in 2004 but is poised for his best year-end finish having reached the final in Indian Wells, semi-finals at Roland Garros and the US Open and the quarter-finals of Wimbledon. He has avoided Federer and nemesis Hewitt, who he has never beaten, but still faces a tough task to make the last four. "Andy and I only played once this year in Indian Wells and I was fortunate to come out on top after an extremely tight match," said Henman. "I haven't played Marat for a couple of years but he's obviously the man to beat at the moment, and my only match against Guillermo this year was at the French Open, which was pretty close. "I think the event itself is wide open so everybody will fancy their chances -- me included."
