Djokovic nears No. 1 tennis ranking

LONDON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Novak Djokovic edges closer this week to Roger Federer and the top of the men's world tennis rankings.

Djokovic just got by Andy Murray in three sets over more than 3 hours Sunday for the Shanghai Rolex Masters title. Murray, looking for a third consecutive title at Shanghai, had five match points but was unable to convert.

The Masters tournament title comes with 1,000 rankings points and allowed Djokovic to nestle up to Federer, who lost to Murray in the Shanghai semifinals, at the top of the rankings.

Federer, now No. 1 for a total of 300 weeks, has 12,165 points while Djokovic is a mere 195 points back, with about a month left in the 2012 ATP calendar. And Federer has three championships to defend.

Federer, Djokovic, Murray, No. 3 in the world, and fourth-ranked Rafael Nadal, who is injured, are the only players to have qualified for the World Tour Finals, so the end of the season is important to players down the rankings, too.

The only change in the Top 10 this week was Tomas Berdych, a loser to Djokovic in the Shanghai semifinals, moving from seventh to sixth, switching places with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga by 30 points.

Federer has 12,165 rankings points and Djokovic has 11,970. Murray is fourth with 7,690 and Nadal has 6,995. David Ferrer (5,360) resides in the No. 5 spot and on Monday was announced as the as fifth qualifier for the World Tour Finals. He is followed by Berdych (4,840), Tsonga (4,810) and Juan Martin del Potro (3,670). Those players are also the leaders for the last three invitations to the World Tour Finals.

Janko Tipsarevic (3,265) is the No. 9-ranked player and Juan Monaco (2,775) is 10th.

There are three ATP tournaments this week, with four Top 10 players in the draws. Tsonga and Berdych are in Stockholm, Sweden while del Potro and Tipsarevic play at Vienna, Austria.