Madrid win lifts Federer for tilt at French Open

By Iain Rogers

MADRID (Reuters) - Defeating claycourt king Rafael Nadal on Sunday has convinced Roger Federer the pieces are falling into place to enable him to seize the Spaniard's French Open crown and win the only grand slam title that eludes him.

The Swiss world number two has lost to Nadal in the final at Roland Garros the past three years and fell to his 22-year-old rival in the semi-finals in 2005.

He said his 6-4 6-4 victory over number one Nadal in the Madrid Open final on clay had come at the perfect time with the French Open starting in Paris at the end of the month.

"I think everything is falling into place. I kind of felt it coming the last few weeks," Federer, 27, told a news conference.

"This year it looked like other guys might be moving up but I always knew that I was going to get stronger week by week on clay," he added.

"So it's a nice feeling and I'm very excited going into Paris now whereas maybe a couple of weeks ago I was still a little bit unsure about my game and not sure whether I could win the French and now that's changed."

Federer said Nadal was unlikely to be affected too much by only his fifth defeat on his favoured surface in 155 matches since the start of 2005.

"I snapped his streak at 81 a couple of years ago and it didn't really bother him too much," he said, referring to his victory over Nadal in the final of the 2007 Hamburg Masters.