TENNIS in DEPTH.

Mardy Fish became the top-ranked men’s American player by beating No. 6-seeded David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 Wednesday to reach the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open. The 29-year-old Fish will climb to at least 11th, a career best, in the next rankings. Good friend Andy Roddick will fall from eighth to 14th after losing his opening match last week. “I don’t think I would ever feel like I was the No. 1 American,” Fish said. “Andy has had a pretty good career. You can put his career on top of mine about six times. He’s always going to be the top dog in my generation.”

Fish, seeded 14th, dominated with his serve and took the lead for good when Ferrer hit back-to-back double-faults to lose the 11th game. At 29, Fish is into the Key Biscayne semifinals for the first time. His opponent Friday will be the winner of Wednesday night’s match between No. 2-seeded Novak Djokovic and unseeded Kevin Anderson.

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