Roger Federer of Switzerland returns the ball to Denmark's Kristian Pless at the Dubai Open tennis tournament in Dubai yesterday. Federer won 7-6, 3-6, 6-3. - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters):

Roger Federer set a new record for men's tennis dominance yesterday, when he celebrated his 161st consecutive week as world number one.

The Swiss eclipsed Jimmy Connors' 30-year-old milestone after extending a streak that began on February 2, 2004.

"I've been looking forward to this day to come and I'm very excited. That is definitely one of the biggest records I've broken so far in my career," Federer told reporters before beating Kristian Pless 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round of the Dubai Open.

American Connors enjoyed 160 weeks as the world's top-ranked player between July 1974 and August 1977.

The Swiss master is guaranteed to leave that benchmark far behind as his closest rival, Spain's Rafael Nadal, trails the 25-year-old by 3,415 points in the ATP entry system.

When the ATP updated the rankings at around 0500 GMT, they showed Federer atop with 8,120 points and Nadal on 4,705.

The rest lag far behind with American Andy Roddick in third-place on 2,830.

Profoundly proud

"I am profoundly proud of not only being able to compete with my opponents today, but also with history," Federer told his official website. "One hundred and sixty-one weeks is a long time and being able to lead this statistic from now on is a terrific feeling. As you can imagine, it has taken a lot to come this far."