HAMBURG: Roger Federer retained a comfortable lead at the top of the men's tennis rankings issued on Monday by the ATP in spite of an early exit at the Miami Masters last week.
The Swiss Federer, who was knocked out in Florida by Czech Tomas Berdych, has 10,765 points to lead second-placed Serb Novak Djokovic (7,630) by more than 3,000 points. Spain's Rafael Nadal moved back into third place with 6,980 points at the expense of Briton Andy Murray of Britain (5,845). Sunday's Miami champion Andy Roddick of the US climbed from eighth to seventh with 4,780 points.
Meanwhile, Kim Clijsters, eight tournaments removed from a two-year layoff from tennis, returned on Monday to the world women's Top 10.Since returning to the ATP in August, Clijsters is 27-5 over eight tournaments. Only one other player in the Top 200 — No. 23 Justine Henin who ended a retirement four tournaments ago — has fewer than 10 tournament appearances.
Serena Williams has played just twice this year but is solidly No 1 in the rankings with Caroline Wozniacki second and Dinara Safina No 3. Venus Williams improved from fifth to fourth with the finals berth in Miami, shoving Svetlana Kuznetsova to No 5.
