Sela triumphs in Russia, Federer eyes No. 1 ranking

Dudi Sela opened his final ATP Tour tournament of the year with an impressive 6-3, 6-2 win over world No. 56 Borna Coric in the first round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Monday.

The 32-year-old Israeli, ranked No. 72, needed just 62 minutes to defeat the 20-year-old Croatian.

Sela will next play the winner of the match between Evgeny Donskoy (73) of Russia and Rogerio Dutra Silva (81) of Brazil.

“I’m happy with the way I played,” said Sela. “I took the important points in the first set and improved in the second set. This is my last tournament before Israel’s Davis Cup tie and I want to end the year on a sweet note.”

Israel hosts Romania on October 27-29 in a tie it must win to avoid relegation to Group II for the first time since 2001.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer is eyeing a seventh ATP Finals crown and has not ruled out pinching the world No. 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal if he maintains the form that won him his second Shanghai Masters trophy on Sunday.

The 19-time Grand Slam winner claimed his 94th title and sixth this year with an emphatic defeat of Nadal in the Shanghai final and is hungry for a first ATP Finals win since 2011.

“London is my priority now and I really want to win the World Tour Finals,” said the evergreen 36-year-old. “I am very excited to have had the year that I have had and everything that comes GSPN IFSF JT B CPOVT u