Nadal must wait for No. 1 ranking

Rafael Nadal’s move to No. 1 will have to wait a couple of more weeks.

Looking weary after two months of nonstop winning, the 22-year-old Spaniard got run around the court Saturday in Mason, Ohio, and ultimately, bounced from the Cincinnati Masters one step short of another title match. Instead, Novak Djokovic reached the final with a 6-1, 7-5 victory that delayed the inevitable.

The third-seeded Djokovic will play Andy Murray for the title today. Murray reached his first Masters series final by beating Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-4.

By reaching the semifinals of the $2.6 million ATP Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Nadal piled up enough points – over the last 52 weeks – to overtake Roger Federer as the world’s No. 1 player in Aug. 18 rankings.

Federer has been No. 1 for a record 235 consecutive weeks. He and Nadal have been ranked 1-2 since July 25, 2005. Nadal will become the third Spaniard to hold the No. 1 spot, joining Carlos Moya (1999) and Juan Carlos Ferrero (2003).

•Jelena Jankovic might not feel worthy of being ranked No. 1, but she has assured herself of moving up to that spot later this month.

Jankovic will become the 18th player to lead the WTA computer rankings when she rises to the top spot Aug. 11.

On Friday, Jankovic thought she had wasted a chance to take over at No. 1 by losing to unseeded Dominika Cibulkova in Montreal.

“At the moment I don’t deserve that spot,” Jankovic said after the upset loss.

•Teenager Dominika Cibulkova rallied to defeat Marion Bartoli 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

The 19-year-old Cibulkova, from Slovakia, will play Dinara Safina for the championship. Safina was a 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 winner over 11th-seeded Victoria Azarenka in the other semifinal.

Horse racing

Horse ups streak to 15 straight

Deweycheatumnhowe captured the $1.5 million Hambletonian at East Rutherford, N.J., becoming the first unbeaten winner of the 3-year-old trotting classic.

The 2-5 favorite with a mouthful of a name extended his winning streak to 15 with a half-length victory over Crazed. Make It Happen finished third in the field of 10.

Deweycheatumnhowe, driven by co-owner and trainer Ray Schnittker, completed the mile in 1 minute, 52 seconds for his 11th victory at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

•Ready Set withstood a charging Web Gem and a claim of foul to win the $750,000 West Virginia Derby in Chester, W. Va.

Ridden by Julien Leparoux, Ready Set covered the 11/8-mile course in 1:52.03.

•Heavily favored Indian Blessing left five other 3-year-old fillies at the quarter pole and drew away to a 7-length victory in the $250,000 Test Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Miscellany

Hydroplanes hit Lake Washington

Steve David, Dave Villwock and Jean Theoret won their preliminary heats in the Chevrolet Cup races for unlimited hydroplanes on Lake Washington in Seattle.

David, the defending Chevrolet Cup champion, drove Oh Boy! Oberto to victory in heat 1A with an average speed of 144.119 mph over three laps.

Jeff Bernard of Kent, Wash., in Formulaboats.com, took second, followed by J. Michael Kelly aboard Graham Trucking.

•Victor Darchinyan took the IBF junior bantamweight title from Dimitri Kirilov with a fifth-round knockout in a fight that Darchinyan dominated from start to finish in Tacoma.

•Alejandro Valverde of Spain won the San Sebastian Classic cycling race with a strong burst in the final sprint at San Sebastian, Spain.