Juan Carlos Ferrero has achieved much in this, the season which has seen him become a grand slam champion for the first time.

Although that grand slam title came on the molten-red clay of Roland Garros, at the French Open, Ferrero's proudest accomplishment is that now he can be considered a threat on every surface.

Whereas he was last year the number one clay-courter in the world, now Ferrero, as proven once more on Sunday at the Madrid Masters Series event, where he defeated Nicolas Massu in a one-sided final, has dispelled the myth that he cannot be taken seriously on fast surfaces.

Grass is not yet a surface on which the 23-year-old excels, although a fourth-round appearance this year at Wimbledon suggests he is coming to grips with the most traditional of terrain.

But put Ferrero up against any player on carpet or hard-court and he justifiably is fearless.

Having secured the top-ranking in the ATP's entry system earlier this week, by winning his quarter-final match here in the Spanish capital, Ferrero replaced Andy Roddick as the Champions Race leader on Sunday with a 6-3 6-4 6-3 victory over Chilean Massu.

Massu, who conquered the fierce serve of Roddick in the third round, brought much to this tournament and also discredited the notion that he is nothing to be feared away from the clay courts.

But he was overwhelmed by Ferrero on the indoor surface in the Madrid Rockodromo.

Ferrero only needed to break the Massu serve once in each of the first two sets before taking a more closely contested third set.

Massu fought back onto serve after falling a break back, but Ferrero again pulled clear to run out a straight-sets winner.

This was Ferrero's fourth title of the season but the first which has not come on clay, with his previous three triumphs coming at Monte Carlo, Valencia and of course Paris.

But since winning those titles he has finished runner-up to Roddick at the US Open and to Taylor Dent in Bangkok, both tournaments being contested on hard courts.

"Of course it's special to win in Madrid in front of my own crowd and after all of the problems I had in the earlier rounds," said Ferrero who had to defend two match points against South Africa's Wayne Ferreira in the second round.

"This is my first indoor triumph and it's very important.

"It's never nice to read in the papers that I am a clay-court player and I think that from now on I can say I've won on all surfaces.

"I hope to keep this up in Paris and Houston and I'll take a lot of confidence from this to the Davis Cup."

Ferrero's Spain take on the Australia of Lleyton Hewitt at the end of next month in Melbourne, aiming for tennis' biggest team prize.

Ferrero is far from assured of finishing the season on top of the world, with both American Roddick and Swiss Roger Federer also in contention.

"Both Federer and Roddick are quality players. I am more worried about Roddick because he defends less, although I'm worried about them both," Ferrero added.

Meanwhile Massu remained upbeat despite the defeat.

"I wanted to win the tournament but I couldn't, today I was against the number one in the world," he said.

"It has been a wonderful week for me, it's not every week you can play a Masters Series final and I played well all week.

"I played the best tennis of my life against Roddick.

"I want to thank everyone for supporting me - all of the Chileans - and I hope to be back for next year and if I play another final, next time I will have more confidence."