Swiss maestro Roger Federer will still remain world number one next week, guaranteeing another milestone that is hard to overtake.
His third round victory over compatriot and David Cup teammate Stanislas Wawrinka at the Shanghai Masters means that Federer will be number one for the 300th week starting on Monday. It was a close fight in the first two sets but a victory in a crucial tiebreak in the second set shifted the momentum in favor of the Swiss star. The final score was 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-0.
“It’s obviously an amazing number and I never thought of anything like this when I was a little kid,” Federer said.
“I just thought one day my dream would come true to play on the tour. So here I am at 300 weeks, and it’s probably one of my biggest accomplishments and something I’m very proud of. No doubt about it,” he added.
Federer will next face 10th-seed Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals after the latter beat Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
There was not much drama on the victories of both Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. The second-ranked Serb beat Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-3 while Murray defeated Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-2. Djokovic’s next opponent is Germany’s Tommy Haas while Murray will face unseeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
