The New World #2: Andy Murray

Tomorrow Andy Murray will become the new #2 player in the world, one spot behind Roger Federer (who he has beaten the last FOUR times they played since he lost the 2008 US Open Final to him, with a career head-to-head lead of 6-2) thanks to a 6-4 7-6(8) defeat of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals of the Montreal Rogers Cup (like I predicted yesterday).

In the final Murray will face Juan Martin del Potro, who saved a match point against Andy Roddick to win 4-6 6-2 7-5.

Murray leads del Potro 3-1 in the career head-to-head, including 2 matches on hard courts (2008 US Open and Miami earlier this year). del Potro is definitely improving rapidly and is probably higher than his World #6 ranking. However, Murray wants to prove something to the rest of the Tour that he deserves to win these big titles. One wrinkle is that it is often difficult to win again after a huge win, but Murray expects to become #1 so becoming #2 may not be an emotional high for him.

MadProfessah's prediction: Murray in 3 sets.