Federer still No. 1 -- for another week

LONDON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Roger Federer held onto the top spot in the men's world tennis rankings Monday for a record 237th consecutive week but will lose it next week.

Federer's once huge lead as been evaporating under the increasingly strong play of world No. 2 Rafael Nadal. And because of past tournament results, Nadal is assured of taking over the top spot next week.

Nadal could have ended Federer's streak at No. 1 this week, but lost in the semifinals of the Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati. Federer's ranking suffered greatly in Cincinnati, where he was the defending champion. He not only lost those ranking points -- ATP rankings cover tournaments for the previous year -- but lost his first match in the tournament.

Federer has 6,680 points, just ahead of the 6,455 amassed by Nadal, Novak Djokovic is third (5,390 points).

Nikolay Davdenko (2,795) moved up one spot to fourth, switching places with David Ferrer (2,775).

Cincinnati champion Andy Murray moved from ninth to sixth and David Nalbanian and James Blake held onto seventh and eighth, respectively. Andy Roddick, last week's No. 6, fell to ninth and Stanislas Wawrinka completed the top 10.