Tennis Sports

Roger Federer has set his sights on reclaiming the top ranking after capturing the Madrid Open title and knowing he will climb back above Rafa Nadal to No2 in the world. The resurgent 30-year-old Swiss came from a set down to beat Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the Madrid final on Sunday, his fourth title of the year and a third in the Spanish capital that put him level on 20 Masters titles with Nadal.

Success in one of the upcoming grand slams could catapult him above Novak Djokovic to world No1 – a position he last held in May 2010 – and he would then equal and almost certainly break Pete Sampras’s record of 286 weeks at the top.

A buoyant Federer said: “Back then I was just trying to stay world No1 and I never really looked at Pete’s record that much. I g

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Milos Raonic is hoping the sequel has a better ending.

Two months after he met Roger Federer for the first time on a tennis court, the two will hook up again in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Masters Wednesday. Federer needed three sets to beat Raonic in the third round of the tournament in Indian Wells, Calif, in mid-March.

“It’s these kind of moments that I want to be in, these kind of opportunities I want to have,” Raonic said on tennistv.com. “I feel good going into it and I’m playing well. It was a close match (last time) and I felt like I oculd have done a few things better. Hopefully I’m able to do that (Wednesday).”

The 21-year-old Canadian set up his rematch with one of tennis’s legendary players by downing Argentine David Nalbandian 6-4, 6-4 in the first round Tuesday in Madrid.

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Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska showed real class as she beat the world No2 Maria Sharapova 7-5 6-4 to claim Saturday’s Sony Ericsson Open final.

The result meant Sharapova has now lost all four finals she has featured in at the Miami tournament, and all three she has played in this year.

Radwanska’s victory was her second of the year following a triumph in Dubai and her ninth WTA title, arguably her most valuable.

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KEY BISCAYNE, FLA. – Maria Sharapova again came up short at the Sony Ericsson Open, losing in the final for a fourth time in as many tries.

Agnieszka Radwanska denied the Russian star this time, claiming a 7-5, 6-4 victory on Saturday for her second title of 2012 and the ninth of her career.

It was also the biggest win for the 23-year-old native of Poland, who improved to 9-2 all-time in WTA finals. She also claimed the title in Dubai earlier this year and is 26-4 [not including a walkover loss in Malaysia] in 2012, with each of those losses coming against world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.

“I’m just very happy that I played my tennis since the beginning of the year and hope I can continue,” Radwanska said during the trophy presentation after the match.

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Andy Murray marched into the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters after maintaining his dominance over Gilles Simon with a straight-sets success.

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