MONTREAL — Andy Murray took the court to face Juan Martin Del Potro knowing no matter what the result of the Rogers Cup final, he would soon be ranked No. 2 in the world.
Not satisfied having reached that goal, Murray withstood his toughest test of the tournament and defeated Del Potro 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-1 on Sunday.
“I love winning tournaments, it’s great, and every player will tell you the same thing,” Murray said. “But it’s tough because I’ve never been to No. 2 in the world before, so that’s new to me.”
The 22-year-old from Scotland was assured before the final of leapfrogging Rafael Nadal into the second spot when the ATP Tour rankings are released today. The victory gave Murray an additional 400 ranking points to get him to 9,250 compared to 11,040 for world No. 1 Roger Federer and 8,665 for Nadal.
The third-seeded Murray matched his career best from last season with his fifth tournament win of the year and improved his record to 11-4 against top-10 players this season.
• Jelena Jankovic, a 24-year-old Serb who rose to the top of the rankings last August, knocked off the current No. 1, beating Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 to win the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio.
Messier rejoins Rangers
NEW YORK — Mark Messier, who in 1994 led the New York Rangers to their first Stanley Cup title in 54 years, is returning to the club as a special assistant to general manager Glen Sather.
Messier, a six-time Cup champion as a player, has not been shy in recent years about his desire to eventually run a team as GM.
Messier ranks second behind longtime teammate Wayne Gretzky on the NHL career scoring list with 1,887 points.
Pedregon wins funny car event
BRAINERD, Minn. — Tony Pedregon raced to his third funny car victory of the season at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.
Pedregon powered his Chevy Impala to a 4.149-second run at 295.59 mph to defeat Ron Capps in the final.
Morgan Lucas (top fuel), Greg Anderson (pro stock) and Hector Arana (pro stock motorcycle) won their respective categories.
Footnotes.
Janel McCarville scored 19 points, including the victory-clinching three-point play with 9.1 seconds remaining, in the visiting New York Liberty’s 60-59 WNBA win over the Washington Mystics.
• Mike Banner scored his first MLS goal, Jon Busch posted his eighth shutout of the season, and the Chicago Fire beat Kansas City 2-0 to spoil Peter Vermes’ first game as Wizards interim coach.
• Tyler Farrar, who rides for the Garmin-Slipstream team, won the Hamburg Cyclassics race in Germany, breaking away in the home stretch to beat Matti Breschel of Denmark and Gerald Ciolek of Germany.
• Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain won the New York City Half-Marathon, finishing two seconds off the course record in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 45 seconds.
The Associated Press
