Andy Murray is looking towards the upcoming French Open with optimism after producing three increasingly encouraging performances at the Madrid Open this week.
Murray came to Spain in disappointing form having won just five of 10 matches since reaching the Australian Open final at the start of the year.
However, he started to show signs of improvement at the Rome Masters, where he picked up his first victory in three tournaments against Andreas Seppi before losing to David Ferrer in his next match.
And the Scot built on that at the Madrid Open, where he took some significant strides towards a return to his best.
His opening two matches in the Spanish capital resulted in straight-sets victories over Juan Ignacio Chela and Victor Hanescu and, although he could not gain revenge for his defeat in Italy against Ferrer in Friday night's quarter-final, Murray was far from outclassed against the in-form Spaniard.
Speaking after his 7-5 6-3 defeat to the claycourt specialist, Murray said he believes he can do well at the French Open if he continues to play at that level.
The world number four also feels things are starting to click into place mentally.
"If I hit the ball like that I will beat a lot of guys. I think I could've won the match so going into the French I'll definitely feel way, way better than I did a few weeks ago," said Murray.
"It's been a positive week.
"I've got my intensity back. My mind's where it needs to be on the court.
"Hopefully going into the French I'll be a little calmer. I think it's normal to get a little bit frustrated when you haven't won that many matches but I think I'm moving good, hitting the ball well and the intensity is right, and there's no reason why I can't play well at the French."
He added: "I just feel like I'm in the right frame of mind on the court, and if I'm like that, even if I don't play well, then I'll still fight very hard and I'll give myself chances to win matches.
"I'm just happy with the mindset that I'm in just now. I'm very disappointed to have lost (to Ferrer) - not because I didn't give everything out there on the court, but simply because I lost.
"If you give everything and lose, it's tough, but I lost to a better player tonight and that's nothing to be ashamed of."
Of Murray's 14 titles to date, none have come on clay and his best performance at Roland Garros was the quarter-final berth last season.
The British number one, who celebrates his 23rd birthday on Saturday, felt his showing against Ferrer exceeded anything he has produced on clay so far this year, but he admits there is still plenty of room for improvement.
"In terms of playing the right way and the way I need to play on clay, I had some good wins on clay last year, but I felt tonight (against Ferrer) was how I need to play on the clay," he said.
"There are a few things like ghosting into the net that I could have done a bit better, a few volleys, but tonight was very good.
"I can't think off the top of my head what the best ever claycourt match I've played is but so far this year that was the best one, but I still feel I can play 20-30 per cent better."
Murray also believes there were some lessons he can take on board from his defeat to Ferrer about staying cool under pressure.
"In Australia for me I was in the right frame of mind. It's maintaining a sort of calm in your game when you're in the big stage of the match and that's something that over the last couple of years I've done very, very well," he said.
"Maybe it's because I haven't played that many matches over the last few months. It's not like I didn't play well tonight, I was very close to winning, but that's something I can improve - just maintaining a little bit more calm in my game at the important moments and I'm sure after playing in a match like that it's something I'll learn from.
"I'll learn from the little mistakes that I made and I'll play well at the French Open, I'm sure."
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