Rafael Nadal will finish as the world's No. 1 for the second time in three years, the ATP announced Thursday, just three days after the Spaniard won the US Open to complete a career Grand Slam. The 24-year-old is the ninth player in the history of the world rankings to finish on top of the pile at least twice. He and Roger Federer are the only players since 2000 to clinch the year-end No. 1 ranking in the week after the US Open. Federer did it in 2004 and 2006. “It has been an incredible season - one of my best ever, if not the best,” said Nadal. “Winning the US Open together with Roland Garros and Wimbledon, as well as the three back-to-back Masters in Europe, was not easy. I worked very hard to get back to the top and it feels really good to know I will end the year as No. 1.” On Monday, Nadal became the seventh man in history to achieve a career Grand Slam as he earned his first US Open title. He is also the first player to win three straight Grand Slam titles in the same year since Rod Laver won all four in 1969. Wild card stuns Bartoli Canadian wild card Rebecca Marino steamrolled top-seeded Marion Bartoli of France Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Bell Challenge WTA tournament. Bartoli, who was playing the event for the first time since lifting the trophy in 2006, dropped the first set then surrendered the first four games of the second as Marino triumphed 6-3, 6-1. The 19-year-old from Toronto needed just 75 minutes to topple Bartoli, who followed second-seeded comptriot Arvavane Rezai to the sidelines. Marino next faces American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who ousted sixth-seeded German Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-4. Last year's runner-up, third-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova, cruised into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Sweden's Johanna Larsson. Safarova, who lost in the final to Melinda Czink last year, next faces fifth-seeded Melanie Oudin of the United States, a 6-3, 6-0 winner over Georgia's Anna Tatishvili. Groth in quarters In China, top-seeded Jarmila Groth of Australia rolled into the quarterfinals of the Guangzhou International Thursday with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand. The 55th-ranked Groth next faces unseeded Italian Maria Elena Camerin. Also Thursday, unseeded Edina Gallovits of Romania ousted fourth-seeded Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and Alexandra Panova outlasted fellow Russian Ksenia Pervak 7-5, 2-6, 6
