Roger Federer edged closer to displacing Rafael Nadal at the top of the world rankings as he hammered Guido Pella 6-4, 6-4 yesterday at the Stuttgart Cup.

The Swiss top seed needs to win one more match against either Australian fourth seed Nick Kyrgios to return to the No.1 spot for the second time this season. Federer however, said that he was not thinking about the No. 1 rank: "I didn't think of number one during the match today, I was focused on the task at hand. But when you play for number one [next match] I'm sure it will be in the back of my head."