Tennis: Rafa win confirms top spot

Rafael Nadal has ended Roger Federer's 235-week reign at the top of the world rankings after the Spaniard defeated Nicolas Lapentti 7-6 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.

By reaching the semi-finals, Nadal will become number one on August 18 and he is guaranteed to move to the top of the rankings on August 11 by finishing as the runner-up.

Nadal has won his last five tournaments and if the 22-year manages to claim the Cincinnati championship he will immediately overtake Federer as the number one player in the world.

Nadal, who is an ATP-best 64-7 this season and is on a 32-match winning streak, connected on 67 percent of his first serves and saved all three break points in an entertaining last eight clash.

Lapentti has made a habit of knocking out seeded Spaniards in this tournament, with consecutive upsets of No. 5 David Ferrer and No. 10 Fernando Verdasco en route to the quarters.

However, Nadal was simply too strong for the South American, and after clinching the first set 7-3 on a tie-break, he moved through the gears to power through the second set 6-1.

Speaking after the match, Nadal said: "I'm very happy, especially to be number one but also because I have improved to my best run at Cincinnati - I am in the semi-finals for the first time in my career.

"For sure, to be number one is always a goal. I have fought a lot over the last few years getting a lot of good results and finally I am mumber one."

Nadal will meet third-seeded Novak Djokovic in a semi-final clash after the third seeded Serbian downed Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 6-3 6-4 in the quarters.

"I thought that I was serving much better, and day after day I'm getting stronger in the segment of my game, which is really important coming up to the final stages of the tournament," said Djokovic.

I hope Djokovic beats Nadal