Murray moves to No. 3 in world rankings

LONDON, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Andy Murray has unseated Roger Federer and taken over the No. 3 spot in the world tennis rankings.

While attention has understandably been paid to the amazing 2011 for world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who started the year by winning his first 41 matches and is 64-3 overall with three Grand Slam titles among his 10 championships, Murray is putting together a big year of his own.

Murray has won his last three tournaments and 25 of his last 26 matches. He defended his Shanghai Masters title Sunday with a straight-set win over fifth-ranked David Ferrer. In recent weeks he's also won at Bangkok and Thailand, giving him five championships this year.

That has moved Murray to No. 3 in the world. While not a career best -- he was second in the world for three weeks in August 2009 -- it also dropped Federer to fourth, pushing the Swiss star out of the Top 3 for the first time since June 2003.

Djokovic has 13,860 ranking points and assured himself of being No. 1 through year's end. Rafael Nadal remains second with 10,375. Murray totals 7,825 points and Federer comes in at 7,780.

Ferrer has 4,710 and is the fifth player to qualify for the field of eight at the ATP World Tour Finals.

Robin Soderling (3,500) remains sixth and Tomas Berdych (3,230) seventh but Mardy Fish (2,965) returns to the No. 8 place, forcing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2,880) to ninth. Gael Monfils (2,525) completes the Top 10.

Monfils, set to play in the Stockholm Open, is the only Top 10 player scheduled to compete this week.