Nadal set to take world's top spot

Rafel Nadal's victory against Nicolas Lapentti in the Cincinnati Masters quarter-finals means he will take the world number one spot.

The 22-year-old Spaniard's 7-6 6-1 win against the Ecuadorian not only secured the French Open and Wimbledon champion a place in the semi-finals of this Masters event, where he will face third seed Novak Djokovic, but top place in the world rankings above Roger Federer.
At the moment Nadal will go top of the ATP rankings on August 18, although he will reach the summit a week earlier should he win his semi-final against Djokovic and then lose the final on Sunday. However success in Cincinnati this weekend will see him jump to the top on Monday.
Therefore it brings to an end Federer's four-and-a-half-year reign in which Nadal has trailed him in second place for 158 successive weeks since 25 July 2005.
Nadal said "It's emotional. Getting to be number one is so satisfying."
He added: "I am happy because I have been fighting a lot these last three years, although I was happy as number two as I won a lot of tournaments. But for sure, number one is a goal and I am very happy."
Looking ahead to his last-four showdown against Djokovic, Nadal admitted he will need to sharpen up following his performance against Lapentti.
He said: "If I want to beat Djokovic I have to play better than in this match and my best match in Cincinnati for sure.
"But the important thing is that I continue to play well and continue to win."
Nadal's semi-final opponent Djokovic defeated Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 6-3 6-4 to progress to the last-four to set up a repeat of the pairs Queen's final where Nadal came out on top.