Andy Murray heads Roger Federer in the world rankings for the first time after his win at the Shanghai Masters gave him his third title already this month.
The autumn Asian swing on the ATP tour has been one of remarkable success for the Scot, but three titles in 15 days have not quite satisfied Murray, and now the objective is to bring his year to a glorious end in London.
Murray has exhausted himself over the past three weeks, firstly in thrashing American Donald Young to triumph in Bangkok, then when demolishing Rafael Nadal 6-0 in a deciding set of the Japan Open final, and finally in bringing down David Ferrer at the climax of the Shanghai Masters.
He won 7-5, 6-4 against Ferrer and will rise to No.3 in the new world rankings today, nudging in front of Federer who drops out of the top three after eight years.
The 30-year-old from Switzerland has been ever-present since bagging the first of his 16 Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in 2003, but Murray has five titles this year to Federer's one. The rankings tell an unmistakable truth.
Of course Murray remains without a major to his name, unlike Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal ahead of him and Federer, who are all multiple winners.
Murray can do nothing about that in 2011, but the 24-year-old Scot can finish the year in style in front of a British crowd at the end-of-term ATP World Tour Finals late next month at the O2 Arena.
"The goal is to play well at the O2 and try to go further than I have before," Murray said after his latest success. "I'll do everything I can to get ready for that.
"This has been one of the best runs of my life. I've played very, very well in the last few weeks. I was very nervous because I wanted to win and defend my title but I'm very happy I came through."
When Murray climbed to No.2 in the world in August, 2009, Federer was the man at the top.
To overtake the most successful player in the history of men's tennis is a proud moment for Murray, but it was not the only goal he set himself for 2011.
The Scot added: "It's not something I aimed for at the start of the year.
"You want to try to finish at No.1 if you can.
"After the US Open that wasn't possible. I needed to reassess my goals.
"I wanted to finish the year at three if possible. I'm still going to have to win some more matches to do that.
"But the last three weeks have been very good. I've had a good mindset and fought really hard in all the matches.
"Here I got a bit tired but I wanted to keep the run going."