Andy Murray climbs above Rafael Nadal to third in world rankings

Andy Murray was last as high as third in the rankings in September 2013

Andy Murray has swapped places with Rafael Nadal to move to third in the ATP world rankings.

The Scot, 27, climbed to his highest ranking since occupying second place after beating Serbia's Novak Djokovic in the 2013 Wimbledon final.

He had dropped to 12th in September 2014 after missing three months following back surgery on a long-standing disc injury the previous year.

Murray plays in Dubai this week along with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

Second seed Federer opened with a 6-3 6-1 win over Mikhail Youzhny on Monday, with top seed Djokovic facing Vasek Pospisil and Murray taking on Luxembourg's Gilles Muller at 12:00 GMT on Tuesday.

British number two James Ward will play Spaniard Feliciano Lopez after coming through qualifying to reach the main draw.

Murray's last outing was a quarter-final defeat to Frenchman Gilles Simon in the Rotterdam quarter-finals last week, but his form over the past few months has been impressive.

The Scot won back-to-back ATP tour events in Shenzhen, Vienna and Valencia towards the end of last season, and started 2015 by reaching the final of the Australian Open, where he lost in four sets to Djokovic.

Nadal lost his first semi-final on clay for 12 years as he was beaten by Fabio Fognini 1-6 6-2 7-5 at the Rio Open.