Ferrero clings on to world No 1 spot in front of Posh and Becks

A gala evening for tennis in Madrid, complete with Posh and Becks in the audience at the Rockodromo, nearly turned sour for Juan Carlos Ferrero, of Spain, who would have lost his status as the world No 1 but for his opponent, Wayne Ferreira, double-faulting on match point in the second round.

Ferrero, the French Open champion, recovered from 5-2 down in the final set to win, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6. Otherwise the No 1 position would have passed into the hands of Andy Roddick, the 21-year-old United States Open champion.

Roddick, who has lost only two of 31 matches since Wimbledon ­ to Britain's Tim Henman in Washington DC and to Dominik Hrbaty, of Slovakia, in the Davis Cup ­ was pushed uncomfortably close by Max Mirnyi, of Belarus. Roddick prevailed, 6-1, 6-7, 7-5, after two hours.

A long slog had seemed out of the question in the opening set, when the American looked unstoppable. He broke Mirnyi three times and dropped only three points on his own serve, underlining his confidence by hitting four aces in a row from 0-15 in the fourth game.

Although Roddick also won all but three points on his serve en route to the second-set tie-break, Mirnyi's resilience had grown, and he saved two match points in the shoot-out before converting his third set point for 11-9. Mirnyi had two break points for a 5-3 lead in the final set, Roddick serving his way out of danger and going on to break decisively for 6-5 after Mirnyi had double-faulted at 30-15 in that game.

Roddick said playing tough matches had taught him to be "very relaxed in all situations and to not get too worked up or too excited." His triumph at the US Open last month made him more at ease with his public image. "I was no longer that kid who got more attention than he deserved," he said. "It's nice to know you deserve some of the attention."

Speaking of which, Roddick was asked if he knew anything about David Beckham. "Yes," he said, grinning. "I spent a month in your country. There was one day where he wasn't on the cover of the sports section. Great hair. He's an absolute phenomenon as far as attention goes and as far as the madness he creates in people. I find it kind of cool. It's kind of fun to watch from a distance.

"He's like your biggest rock star and your biggest sports star combined into one. And he's dating another pop star." (Don't worry, Victoria, he was referring to you.) "He definitely has a lot of things going right for him."

In the third round, Roddick will play Nicolas Massu, of Chile. Roger Federer, the Wimbledon champion, who defeated Alex Corretja, of Spain, 6-4. 6-3, meets America's Mardy Fish, 21, who beat Henman.