Murray comes 2nd on tennis world rankings

MONTREAL: Andy Murray made sure of claiming the world number two ranking, but he will have to get past Juan Martin Del Potro on Sunday to claim the ATP Montreal Masters crown.

Scotland''s Murray will replace Rafael Nadal in the slot behind Roger Federer when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Third-seeded Murray beat French seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 7-6 (10/8) in the semi-finals and is set to rise to second in the world for the first time in his career.

Sixth-seeded Del Potro, who won the title in Washington over Andy Roddick last weekend, continued his dominance over the three-time Wimbledon runner-up as he beat the fifth-seeded American 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Del Potro fired 19 aces in a semi-final victory lasting just over two hours.

Del Potro owns former number one Roddick after winning all three of their meetings. He trails Murray, 3-1, earning his lone victory in their last meeting at the Madrid Masters in May.

Murray''s trip to the final insured his promotion after Nadal - back after a break of more than two months nursing tendinits in his knees - lost in the quarter-finals on Friday to Del Potro.

The change makes Murray the first player other than Nadal or Federer to rank number two since July 18, 2005, when Australia''s Lleyton Hewitt stood second behind Federer.

Murray reinforced his status as the highest-ranked British player since the rankings began in 1973 as he won his 49th match of the season.

Murray recovered from an early break to win the opening set. In the second-set tiebreaker he trailed 4-2, and saved two Tsonga set-points before claiming the victory on his second match point.