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Nadal closes in on Federer’s top spot

Ivo Karlovic of Croatia celebrates after upsetting Roger Federer of Switzerland at the Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament in Mason, Ohio, on Thursday. PHOTO: AP

Rafael Nadal shifted into position to seize the No. 1 ranking with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/0) defeat of Tommy Haas only hours after Roger Federer opened the door with a Cincinnati Masters defeat.

In the wake of his third-round win over the German on Thursday, Nadal stands three victories away from taking the ATP top spot from Federer. If he claims the title on Sunday, the deal is sealed.

Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic defeated Federer 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 7-6 (5/7) to open the door to the change at the top after four and a half years of Federer’s reign.

“Roger today was very unlucky in the third set,” Nadal said. “He only lost two points on the last set, that’s terrible for the tennis. Right now I know I’m in a good position, because Roger has to win everything from here, from Olympics to US Open. But I don’t think too much right now. I only think about trying to improve my game for tomorrow.”

Nadal, who defeated the 26-year-old Swiss in an epic Wimbledon final and won a fourth Roland Garros title, has been chasing Federer all season.

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia plays Tamira Paszek of Austria at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Canada, on Thursday. PHOTO: AP

The 12-time grand slam winner has owned the top ranking for 235 weeks, fourth longest in the record books.

“It’s disappointing, losing without getting broken, but it’s not the first player it has happened to, especially to a guy like Ivo,” Federer said after losing the first match in his career where his service was never broken. “There’s always danger in tough matches against Ivo. I knew that from the start.”

Federer has no choice but to look ahead to the Beijing Olympics.

“So far it’s OK,” Federer said. “I guess I’ll analyze and assess my game after the US Open. “For the moment it’s just all a blur. So many tournaments in a row, big tournaments in a row, it’s hard. It’s a tough trip we’ve got up in front of us now, going back to China and coming back to the Open.”

Novak Djokovic and Ernests Gulbis set up their second battle in as many months by reaching the quarter-finals while Scot eighth seed Andy Murray put out Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 6-3.

Third seed Djokovic, riding his best run of form in the steamy US midwest, swamped his second straight Italian opponent as he crushed Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-2 a day after beating Simone Bolelli in two tie-breakers.

Serbian Djokovic, 21, and Latvian teenager Gulbis hung out as kids when they attended the tennis academy of Niki Pilic in Munich.

Gulbis reproduced his French Open form over luckless James Blake, sending the veteran US seventh seed down to a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 upset.



■ROGERS CUP

AGENCIES, MONTREAL

Reigning French Open champ Ana Ivanovic was sent crashing out of the WTA Rogers Cup, losing her third-round match to unseeded Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 on Thursday.

Top seed Ivanovic dropped her first two service games against Paszek to fall behind 4-0 in the final set. She also lost three service games in the opening set before winning the second.

“It was very frustrating because I didn’t know how it was going to pull up; I was in pain through the whole match,” Ivanovic said.

“The pain wasn’t so sharp but I couldn’t hold my racket on my forehand. I tried to fight as much as I could. I really wanted to win this match. But obviously she’s a very good player. She figured it out,” she said.

Paszek avenged a 7-5, 6-1 loss three years ago in Linz when she was just 14-years-old. Paszek is ranked 94th in the world.

The 17-year-old Austrian will face the No. 11 seed Victoria Azarenka of Bulgaria, who moved on after unseeded Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano retired while trailing 7-6 (7/4), 2-0 in the hardcourt tournament.

On the other half of the draw, second seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic breezed to a 6-3, 6-2 third-round win over Canadian Stephanie Dubois to seize a spot in the quarter-finals.

Jankovic will next face giant killer Daniela Cibulkova, who beat Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva and No. 12 Nadia Petrova of Russia in earlier rounds.

Fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 7 Dinara Safina — a pair of hard-hitting Russians — are set to meet in a quarter-final showdown after winning their third-round matches on Thursday.

Kuznetsova was forced to go the distance with 15-year-old Michelle Larcher De Brito of Portugal, but came away with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory in that third-round match.

Safina, who is 23-3 with two titles since the start of May, knocked off No. 9 Patty Schnyder to book a meeting with Kuznetsova.

Japan’s Ai Sugiyama was the first player into the quarter-finals, advancing in a walkover when world No. 3 Maria Sharapova pulled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury on Wednesday.
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