CINCINNATI (Ohio), Aug 2: Rafael Nadal guaranteed he would become the third Spanish man to top the world rankings with a 7-6, 6-1 victory over Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters on Friday.

By beating Lapentti, Nadal will end Roger Federer's four-and-a-half-year reign as world No 1 on Aug 18 at the latest, or as early as Monday if he takes the Cincinnati title.

Nadal's win also took him a step closer to a sixth successive tournament triumph, underlining his evolution into a far more adaptable player on all court surfaces rather than his favourite, clay.

After ending Federer's five-year winning run at Wimbledon last month, Nadal has maintained his superlative form on the hard courts of North America while his Swiss rival has stumbled to early defeats in the two tournaments he has played since.

Should Nadal lose Sunday's final he would top the rankings on Aug 11 while a semi-final defeat would delay his coronation for another week.

The 32-year-old Lapentti took the contest to a tentative Nadal in the first set, often pinning the Spaniard way back behind the baseline with an aggressive brand of attacking tennis.

Nadal saved two break points in the eighth game and the reprieve appeared to invigorate him into action as he cruised through the tiebreak and the second set to seal victory in a one hour and 48 minutes.

The No 2 seed was slated to face Novak Djokovic in Saturday's semi-final after the Serb battled past unseeded Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-4 and Nadal knows he will need to play better to advance.

Saturday's other semi-final will be contested by eighth-seeded Briton Andy Murray, who rallied past Spain's Carlos Moya 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, and 16th seeded Croatian Ivo Karlovic, a 7-6, 7-6 winner over Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.

Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero are the other Spaniards to have topped the world rankings since they were first devised in 1973.

Friday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Quarter-finals: 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1; 3-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 6-3, 6-4; 16-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3); 8-Andy Murray (Britain) bt Carlos Moya (Spain) 2-6 6-3 6-1.

JANKOVIC FOILED AGAIN

MONTREAL: Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova upset Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Montreal Cup on Friday, ending the Serb's hopes of replacing compatriot Ana Ivanovic as world No 1 this week.

Following her shock third-round exit on Thursday, Ivanovic had left the door open for the second-ranked Jankovic to leapfrog over her by reaching Sunday's final.

However, for the second consecutive week, Jankovic failed to seize her opportunity, suffering a stunning centre court collapse at the hands of the 19-year-old Slovak.

“It doesn't matter, the first ranking. I want to be healthy,” Jankovic told reporters. “I don't really think about No 1. If it's going to happen, it will happen but at the moment I don't deserve that spot. I am not in the best shape.”

Jankovic, whose bid for the No 1 spot last week at the Los Angeles Classic was ended with her loss to Dinara Safina in the semi-finals, had looked poised to race in to the last four after taking a 5-1 lead in the opening set.

Then she suddenly lost her way, Cibulkova sweeping the next eight games to take the opening set and a 2-0 lead in the second.

Growing more frustrated with each missed shot, when Jankovic did find the mark the ball was returned with venom by the hard-hitting Cibulkova, who ended a miserable afternoon for the Serb by closing out the match with another break.

Cibulkova faces Marion Bartoli in Saturday's semi-finals after the 10th-seeded Frenchwoman advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Japan's Ai Sugiyama.

Seventh seed Safina, riding the momentum from her championship win in Los Angeles last week rallied past Russian compatriot and world No 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the last four.

Safina will face Victoria Azarenka after the 11th seeded Belarusian ended 17-year-old Austrian Tamira Paszek's run with a 6-4, 7-5 win.

Results:

Quarter-finals: 11-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) bt Tamira Paszek (Austria) 6-4, 7-5; 7-Dinara Safina (Russia) bt 4-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; 10-Marion Bartoli (France) bt Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-2, 6-3; Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt 2-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 7-5, 6-2.—Reuters