Andy Murray celebrated his rise to No. 1 by beating American John Isner 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4 to win the Paris Masters for the first time. It was his career best eighth title this season, his 14th in Masters overall, and ended Isner's bid for a first Masters title. Murray, who officially replaces Novak Djokovic at the top of the rankings, now leads Isner 8-0 in their career meetings, dating back to their first match at the Australian Open six years ago. He recently beat him 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, but this was a very different match and thoroughly contested by the big-serving American.
Using 18 aces and hitting plenty of inside-out winners on his massive forehand, Isner generated considerable pressure. But he was also erratic, wasting two break points in the seventh game of the match. In the second set, he was 4-3 ahead and 40-0 up on Murray's serve, but again failed to punish the Briton. But in a rare dip, Murray double-faulted during the tie-break and Isner profited to take the set.
Isner saved break points on his first two service games of the third set, hanging on as Murray restored his superiority.
Murray becomes world No 1
Murray became the world’s No 1 tennis player after Milos Raonic withdrew from their Paris Masters semi-final. The walkover was confirmed when Raonic revealed he suffered a tear to his right quad during his last-eight victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and would not be able to feature in the semi-final - handing Murray the final place he needed to secure the ranking.
Djokovic had been No 1 since June 2014 - a 122-week run at the top of the list - but his quarter-final defeat to Marin Cilic opened the door for Murray, who now becomes the 26th man to top the rankings and the first Britain to top the standings since the system was introduced in 1973. "It's been a strange day, I was pretty excited about the match and bit nervous as well," he said.
