Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic (R) beat Roger Federer in the final of the Cincinnati Masters on Sunday. In this picture, Federer of Switzerland and Djokovic of Serbia pose for photographers after their match during the men's final of the Western & Southern Open at Lindner Family Tennis Center on Aug. 19, 2018 in Mason, Ohio. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic made progress in the ATP men’s singles world rankings after making it to the finals of the Cincinnati Masters. The former progressed in terms of points, while the latter moved up four places.

Federer and Djokovic missed the tournament in Ohio last year owing to injury, but were the favorites coming into the tournament. The Swiss ace was the top seed in the absence of Rafael Nadal, while the Serbian was seeded ninth as he continues his comeback from injury that kept him out for over six months in the past year.

The duo made the final at Cincinnati, which Djokovic won in straight sets Sunday to become the first male player to win every Masters Series title on the ATP Tour. The former world number one’s win gave him 1,000 ranking points that saw him move up four places to number six in the world.

Federer, on the other hand, had dropped 3,740 points behind world number one Nadal after his poor showing at Wimbledon and his decision to skip the Rogers Cup in Toronto last week, which the Spaniard went on to win.

Nadal decided to skip the Cincinnati Masters as he did not want to over exert his body ahead of the US Open which begins later in the month. He was defending just 180 points, having lost in the quarterfinals last year. The Swiss tennis legend, who skipped the tournament last year, closed the gap at the top after gaining 600 ranking points with his run to the finals and a further 180, which the Spaniard lost.

Federer is now 2,960 points behind Nadal at number two in the world. The latter has to defend 2,000 points at Flushing Meadows having won the tournament in 2017, and Federer will be hoping to close the gap further by improving on his quarterfinal showing last year.

The 37-year-old will not overtake Nadal whatever the outcome, but he could move closer going into the final part of the 2018 season. Similar to 2017, both the players are contending for the year-end number one ranking with the reigning French Open champion, the favorite at the moment.

Djokovic can come into the mix, but he has to win almost every tournament from now to the end of the season. He is currently focusing on getting back to his best after coming back from a long injury absence.

Juan Martin del Potro maintained his position as the world number three ahead of Alexander Zverev and Kevin Anderson, who round out the top five in the men’s singles ranking. But it could change as the weeks progress, as the number to seven are separated by just 400 points.

Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov, Dominic Thiem and David Goffin make up the final four to round out the top 10 in the men’s singles ATP rankings. The Bulgarian, Dimitrov, was the biggest loser of the week as he dropped three places from five to eight.

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