Federer: Nadal is favourite

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Federer was made to work harder for his victory, the world number one digging deep to prevail 7-5 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (9/7) over plucky fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko in a little more than three hours, while reigning champion Nadal, the second seed, maintained his unbeaten record at Roland Garros by storming to a 7-5 6-4 6-2 triumph over sixth seed Novak Djokovic.

Federer said: "He has already won the title twice so I would say he is the favourite. But anything can happen in just one match. It's a going to be a wonderful, wonderful match."

The Spaniard, bidding to become the first player since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open three years running, has beaten his rival for the past two tournaments, in last year's final and the semi-final 12 months earlier and has won 20 straight matches here since making his debut in 2005.

Federer, meanwhile, gets another chance to become only the sixth man in history to win all four grand slams, after Andre Agassi, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Fred Perry.

The French Open is the only major to have eluded him, but he now has a second bite at the cherry and has the chance to hold all four grand-slam titles at the same time.

"I don't want to think about that too much," said Federer, regarding the prospect of completing the Grand Slam.

"I want to be focused on this very specific match. I've never achieved such a thing so I don't know how I'll feel.

Nadal, whose only defeat on clay since April 2005 came against Federer in Hamburg last month, added: "I know if I play my best tennis, it's going to be very, very difficult for him.

"But I know he's a better player than me, because the numbers and everything say that. Federer is an unbelievable player so for that reason he is the favourite. He is highly experienced for these types of matches. But anything can happen on Sunday."