Andy Murray’s 4th spot in the world was under threat last week, with the Scot needing to reach the final to retain his ranking. He actually went onto win the event and will more than likely be the world number 4 when the US Open comes around.

The 2nd and 3rd placing though are not certain with Federer regaining 2nd in the world this week after reaching the Toronto final beating new world number 3 Djokovic along the way. The difference between these two is just 130 points and with Federer beating Djokovic in last years Cincinnati final both have a lot of points to defend this week. If Federer fails to reach the semi-final this week he will be passed by Djokovic regardless of what the Serb does.

Juan Martin Del Potro continues to fall down the rankings as he continues to struggle with injury. He has not added any points to his 12 month total since the Australian Open in January and will lose a further 2000 points if he does not compete at the US Open. He will likely drop out of the top 20 if he does not reach final at flushing meadows.

Andy Roddick also continues to drop in the rankings, though has just been diagnosed with a virus that may have been affecting his energy levels over the last three months.

Roger Federer’s five-year unbeaten reign at the US Open came to a dramatic five sets conclusion Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro claimed his first Grand Slam title.

Del Potro twice fought back from a set down to win 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2. and also becoming the first man other than Rafael Nadal to beat Federer in the final of a Grand Slam tournament.

Del Potro’s performance all the more impressive as this the 20-year olds maiden Grand Slam final and first victory over Roger Federer – Now that is pulling out a performance when it really matters. After winning the 2009 US Open an emotional Del Potro said

I had two dreams this week, One was to win the US Open and the other one is to be like Roger. One is done, but I need to improve a lot to be like you, You fought until the final point. You are a great champion. I’m very happy to be here with this crown, with these people, on this court. This will be in my mind forever.

A slightly less emotional Federer said

I would like to congratulate Juan Martin on an unbelievable tournament. I had a great one but he was the best. I would have never believed I could win five in a row here. It has been an amazing run for me. I was two points from the match today. That’s the way it goes sometimes. But I’ve had an unbelievable run this year. Being in all major finals and winning two of those. Sure, I would have loved to win those two as well. But the year has been amazing already. Got married and had kids, don’t know how much more I want.

As for Andy Murray – this will go down as surely his most disappointing grand slam performance yet, the wrist injury may yet explain is poor showing but the way he went out as put a huge dent in his grand slam credibility.

Andy Murray claimed his 4th ATP 1000 Masters title as he completed a superb first week back in competition after losing last months Wimbledon semi final to Andy Roddick.

He needed to fight back from a set down to beat Juan Martin Del Potro in the final, the Argentine pushed Murray all the way in the first two sets but the 22-year-old Scot outlasted the world number six 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-1

This is Murray’s 13th career title and caps off an amazing week that will see him rise to world number 2 for the first time. He was already the first Briton to reach the number 3 spot and he will no go down as the first Brit to reach number 2. Can he make it to number 1?

He now heads to Cincinnati next week to defend the title he won last year. That tournament last year was a big through event for Murray, it was his first masters event win and he beat Novak Djokovic in the final for the 2nd time in as many weeks.

Murray’s victory today was far from straight forward and was made to really work hard for his win. Del Potro was playing in his first Masters 1000 final and for much of the match looked like winning, the match hinged on the second set tie break, which Murray managed to guts out, largely down to Murray’s superior fitness as he outlasted the 20-year-old in the hot conditions.

Defending Madrid Masters champion Andy Murray suffered a straight sets defeat to world number 5 Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals.

The Argentine battled back from a break down in first set to take the win 7-6 6-3. World number three Murray was 5-2 up in the first set but eventually lost on the tie-break as his Del potro upped his game.

Del Potro now ranked number five in the world, though still 1000′s of points behind the top 4 had failed to post a win in their first 3 matches, but made it 4th time lucky against Murray on the Scot’s least favorite surface.

Though Murray is the defending champion here in Madrid, he was not actually defending any points this week as the tournament was switched from an indoor event in October to the new clay court event in May. The Scot will hold on to his points until then, but now unfortunately not his title.

Del Potro will now play Roger Federer, who battled past Andy Roddick 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-1. Federer now legaly owns Andy Roddick and if the american loses again to Federer, the Swiss ace will own Roddicks children if he ever has any. His career record against the American is now a whopping 18-2.

In the other half of the draw, Rafael Nadal saw off Fernando Verdasco. The world number one will now face Novak Djokovic, who beat Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 6-4 on Friday, in the semi-finals.

Andy Murray flirted with disaster as he reached his first grand slam semi final after letting what seemed an unbeatable position slip from his grasp. Murray eventually winning 7-6(7-2) 7-6(7-1) 4-6 6-4 against Juan Martin Del Potro and ending the young man from Argentina’s impressive 23 match winning streak.

With Murray up two sets to love and a break to the good in the third set he looked certain to win comfortably in straight sets, but woeful serving and missed opportunities allowed Del Potro to win the third set and even at led twice by a break of serve in the fourth set – the alarm bells sounded for Murray at that point and he was able to raise his game to finally put Del Potro away.

With the history and words shared between these two we expected a fiery contest, on this occasion the two let their tennis do the talking and showed the US public some battling tennis. At the end of the match the pair seemed to have put their past behind them as the shook hands in longer than usual embrace.

The match as a whole followed this pattern of Murray taking advantage only to lose it back to Del Potro, it all started well for Murray, holding serve and breaking Del Potro in the Argentines first service game to lead 4-1 in the first set. Murray had done very little to win his advantage, a mix of decent drop shots and unforced errors had got him his lead and at this point and it only took Del Potro to raise his game by cutting down some of the errors to break back and then go on to secure another break to lead 5-4 with Del Potro serving for the first set.

It was now Murray’s turn to raise his game and break back, though he did get some help with two unforced errors from an obvious tight Del Potro. The set would be decided by a tie break and in recent months Murray has played some great tie breaks, this one would be no different, at 3-2 on serve with Del Potro serve, Murray produced the most sublime forehand drop shot that Del Potro could only watch and hope would fall short, it didn’t and Murray had the mini break. He consolidated that mini break with another and served out the tie break in fine style 7-2.

Murray did not drive home his advantage in the second and it looked like Del Potro would be first break, the man from Argentina had his chances producing break points in games 4, 6 and 8, though Murray came up with big ace or winner when required. The score moved onto 5-5 and Murray secured the first break of second set when Del Potro puts a backhand into the net. The advantage was short lived as Murray plays three of the worst points of his life which included a unusually woeful drop-shot an then blazes a forehand long to be broken to love and this set would be decided by another tie-break.

I did say Murray had been playing great tie breaks recently and what a start he made in this one, he raced into a 5-0 with three mini breaks which included two huge forehand winners. It didn’t take him long to finish this tie break off, going one better to win 7-1 this time.

Del Potro had received some treatment for his knee during the second set and was looked to be out of steam and as Murray ran him round the court another break of serve looked likely and Murray achieved this in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead, Del Potro throwing his racquet in rage after sending another forehand long.

With Del Potro moving slower than a heavyweight boxer it looked like it was game over, but like a heavyweight boxers Del Potro packs a mighty punch and he would not give up easily. In fact Del Potro would hit back immediately breaking back immediately with Murray again failing to build on his advantage. More chances would follow for Murray, but again Murray could not take them and then unthinkable happened, the big man from Argentina broke Murray again to lead 5-4 with a chance to serve out the match, which he did without too much fight from Murray.

In a lesson of firing home your advantage Del Potro broke the Scot in the opening game of the fourth, Murray looked completely out of sorts but gathers some composure to hold his own serve after Del Potro held his own comfortably. I don’t think any of the harshest of Murray’s critics would ever question is fighting qualities and whenever Murray is a break down, you know that he is always just a game away getting himself back into the set. A double fault from Del Potro, showing the Argentine teenager still has some nerves and a brilliant backhand from Murray gives the Scot the upper hand in Del Potro’s next service game and when Del Potro send yet another forehand long Murray secured the break back.

Murray’s serve was letting him down, the service winners had gone and he had to work harder and harder to win games on his serve, game 5 seen him save 3 break points to survive that game, but he would go down 0-40 in game 7 and Del Potro converted his second break to take another break lead in the fourth set.

Del Potro has never came back from two sets down and was looking like he may just break that record, but did I mention Murray was a fighter? And fight he did, never write Murray off, never ever. An awesome backhand volley and a forehand winner after a long rally that Murray looked to be on the back foot for most of allowed him to bring up more break back points at 15-40 on the Del Potro serve. He only needed one of them as Del Potro puts a backhand into the net.

With the William sisters waiting to get on court at this point Andy Murray would be well advised to finish this match off before he has to answer to the American sisters and their American fans waiting outside for the evening session to start.

Murray found his serve and held the next game comfortably, with Del Potro following suit to level at 5-5. Murray again produced an off service game and Del Potro sense’s a chance to break, he leads 15-30 before Murray steps up with 3 winners, a big first serve for a winner, a superb volley and a very welcome ace to take a 6-5 lead.

The moment of truth came for Del Potro, he needed to win this game to keep his unbeaten record going. The pressure was beginning to show as Murray went into 0-30 lead after two wayward shots by Del Potro, two shared points see Murray bring up his first match points at 15-40. Del Potro could only save one before Murray reaches his first grand slam semi final.

Andy will now face either Rafael Nadal or Marty Fish who will play later tonight in the evening session.

Andy Murray will continue his US Open adventure in the quarter finals on Wednesday against the current world number 17 Juan Martin Del Potro from Argentina.

The match will be third on the Arthur Ashe court, which will give a start time of no earlier than 2pm (7pm UK Time),  the doubles match on first has just taken over 2 hours so start time for Murray’s match will nearer to 8-30pm-9pm, depending how long the womens singles match between Safina and Pennetta takes.

In the only match the two have played on tour, the match ended in controversy when Del Potro, insulted Andy’s mum after the two were arguing over Del Porto aiming a volley at Murray’s head. Del Potro would then retire from the match at 1 set all complaining of back problems. If you have not seen the confrontation, here is a clip of the action

The young man from Argentina has grabbed a lot of headlines in recent weeks with his unbeaten run of 23 matches that has seen him win his first 4 ATP titles and rise from 65 to 17 in the world and after that jibe from Del Potro about Andy’s Mum, I’m sure Murray will relish ending Del Potro’s run tomorrow.

It’s an impressive feat to maintain an unbeaten record for that long, but we shouldn’t get too carried away with this record and Andy Murray should fear nothing. The four tournaments that Del Potro has won have been lower tier events that very few of the world’s top players attended, as one tennis pundit put it

Del Potro has won 4 Mickey mouse tournaments whilst the real players were playing master series events and Olympics

In his run to his four tournament wins, Del Potro only actually played three players in the top 40, Philipp Kohlschreiber(35th), Richard Gasquet(15th) and Andy Roddick(9th). His first tournament win came in the week after Wimbledon on the clay courts of Stuggart, with all the top players in the Canada preparing for US hard court season. He played no one of note until he beat Gasquet in the final.

He then moved onto Kitzbuhel in Austria, staying on clay he won the title their without playing a top 50 player all week. Del Potro did eventually make it to the US, but only once all the top players had left for the Beijing Olympics. He played the Los Angeles event and made the transition to hard courts well, he met Andy Roddick in the final of that event, which was the most significant win of the run so far, though Roddick was not having the best of time, he lost to world number 93 Viktor Troicki in his next event.

His final event win was in Washington, two weeks before the start of the US open, where the highest ranked player he beat was world number 48 Tommy Haas.

Andy Murray on the other hand was playing in the two major master events in this period, he reached the semi finals of the Roger’s Cup losing to world number 1 in waiting Rafael Nadal and he won the Cincinnati masters beating the world number 3 Novak Djokovic in the final. In this period he also beat world number 10 Stanislas Wawrinka, Ivo Karlovic, Dmitry Tursunov and another win against Djokovic.

The only negative result in this period was the loss to world number 77 Yen-Hsun Lu in the first round of the Olympics – The best players are beating by lower ranked guys from time to time especially if they are not prepared, like Murray was at the Olympics.

With the history between these two from earlier this year which reportedly spills over from their junior days were Murray beat Del Potro in the Junior French Open, this should be a spicy affair and it would appear that bookmakers agree that Murray is most likely to break Del Potro’s unbeaten run, with the Scot odds on favourite to win. If you are placing a bet, the best odds for a Murray win, can be found at Betfair, who are offering a free £10 bet you sign up.