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PARIS, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Andy Murray came out the first ever Briton to earn the world No. 1 spot after Milos Raonic pulled out of the Paris Masters before their semifinal clash here on Saturday due to an injury.
The 29-year-old Murray, who holds three Grand Slam titles and two Olympic gold medals, replaces Novak Djokovic as the tennis'top singles man. The Serb has held the top spot since July 7, 2014, which is 122 weeks in a row, and 223 weeks overall.
Murray will now battle Djokovic for the coveted year-end No. 1 at the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Nov. 13-20.
After Djokovic's surprising exit on Friday, Murray, who beat Tomas Berdych to make semis, had been just one victory away from topping the rankings for the first time.
The Scot, however, could not have imagined that he advanced to the final with a No. 1 ranking in sight even without breaking a sweat.
Raonic withdrew about an hour before Saturday's match because of a right leg injury suffered during his 6-2, 7-6 (4) quarterfinal win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
"This morning I had trouble waking up and getting out of bed. So I went to sort of clear any serious diagnosis. Did some tests. Did an MRI half an hour ago," said the 25-year-old Raonic.
"They found that I have a tear, Grade 1 tear in the right quad. Unfortunately, I'm not able to compete against Andy today in the second semifinal," added the world No. 5.
With the walkover win in the ATP 1000 tournament's semifinals, Murray is assured of holding at least five-point lead over Djokovic when the ATP Rankings are released Monday.
"I'm sure on Monday I'll feel good," said the Briton. "But I'm not sure this is right in the rules, but if I get defaulted in the match tomorrow, I don't think I get the points from this week. So I need to make sure I'm on my best behavior, keep my racket in my hands, and all will be well on Monday."
Even Roger Federer, who held the top spot for a record 237 straight weeks and 302 weeks overall, weighed in on social media and tweeted: "We have a new king in town. Congrats sir @andy_murray."
Murray will face American John Isner in Sunday's final as the latter advanced by beating Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3 with 18 aces throughout his semifinal play.
Having spent 76 weeks at No. 2 since first reaching the second spot in 2009, Murray, who became the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years in 2013, will be the oldest first-time No. 1 since John Newcombe was 30 in 1974.
"To get to No. 1 isn't about today, but it's about 12 months of tournaments to get to this stage," said Murray, the 26th player in the history of the ATP Rankings. "The last few months have been the best of my career and I am very proud to have reached No. 1. It has been a goal of mine for the past few years."
Murray is tied first with Djokovic on the ATP World Tour with a career-best seven titles in 2016, including his second Wimbledon crown and second Olympic Games gold medal.
He also captured two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles (the Internazionali BNL d' Italia in Rome, Shanghai Rolex Masters). He has a 73-9 record on the season and is currently riding a 19-match winning streak.
