Roger Federer has ended a five-match losing streak against the world tennis number one Rafael Nadal to win the Madrid Masters.
Federer's 6-4 6-4 win is a timely early blow in his campaign to lift an elusive French Open trophy.
His run of losses to the Spaniard included three grand slam finals.
The defeat ends Nadal's 33-match winning streak on clay, a sequence stretching back over a year to the Rome second round in 2008.
Federer fired two aces, his fifth and sixth of the afternoon, to wrap up the victory and improve his record in finals against Nadal to five from 11.
He heads into the French Open next week with a huge confidence boost after finally defeating the man who stripped him of his Wimbledon title last summer.
Nadal was visibly jaded from his semi-final where he needed over four hours to defeat Novak Djokovic.
