Safin ranked 3rd despite loss in Portugal

Marat Safin, Russia's best tennis player, is ranked third in the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings.

Yesterday, Safin lost to Juan Ignacio Chela in the finals of the Estoril Open at Oeiras, Portugal, but that did not prevent him from rising from fifth place to third place in the new ATP ranking with 176 points. Chela, the player who defeated Safin, rose by ten points and is now 11th in the rankings.

In the top ten: Roger Federer of Switzerland (379 points) is still in first place; Andy Roddick of the United States is in second (266 points); and after Safin, Andre Agassi is in 4th (U.S., 165 points); Carlos Moya is in 5th (Spain, 160); Dominik Hrbaty is in 6th (Slovakia, 143); Juan Carlos Ferrero is in 7th (Spain, 142); Guillermo Coria is in 8th (Argentina, 138); Tim Henman is in 9th (UK, 131); and Lleyton Hewitt is in 10th (Australia, 129).

Four other Russians besides Safin are ranked in the top 100 best players in the world: Mikhail Youzhny is 33rd (59), Dmitry Tursunov is 70th (30), Nikolai Davidenko is 89th (20), and Igor Adreyev is 100th (16).

All of them, except Tursunov, have fallen in the rankings since the last rankings. Youzhny lost three times, Davidenko lost six times and Andreyev lost twice. Tursunov rose ten spots.