Djokovic again nears No. 2 ranking

LONDON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Novak Djokovic's victory at the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup pulled him within 10 ratings points of the No. 2 ranking in the world.

Djokovic, who has been No. 3 in the world since July 2007 was an impressive 6-1, 7-5 winner over Nikolay Davydenko in Sunday's Masters Cup title match in Shanghai, boosting his ranking point total to 5,295.

Second-ranked Roger Federer failed to advance out of the Masters Cup round-robin and so was unable to protect the rating points his 2007 Masters Cup title delivered. As a result Federer dropped to 5,305 points, just ahead of Djokovic.

Rafael Nadal, who didn't play in Shanghai because of injury, has a strong hold on the world's No. 1 ranking with 6,675 points. After Federer and Djokovic there is a drop off to the 3,720 points of fourth-ranked Andy Murray while Davydenko, ranked No. 5, has 2,715 points.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga improved one ranking spot to sixth and Gilles Simon jumped two places to seventh this week. Andy Roddick dropped two to eighth while Juan Martin del Potro fell one spot to ninth. James Blake remained 10th.