Rafa Nadal continued his magnificent run of form on the ATP circuit with a comprehensive victory in his opening match at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters on Wednesday.

The second-seeded Spaniard took just 49 minutes to dismantle Frenchman Florent Serra in a 6-0 6-1 second-round win at the hardcourt event.

Rafa has won his last five events and has a 30-match winning streak since a second-round defeat to Juan Carlos Ferrero at Rome in early May

Rafa lost only 10 points in the opening set and won 75% of his return points, breaking Serra three time and will now face Tommy Haas of Germany in the third round. Haas was leading Gael Monfils 5-1 when Monfils retired.

Rafa avoided a possible quarter-final with compatriot David Ferrer after the fifth seed was upset 7-6 (7/2) 3-6 6-3 by unseeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.

World number three Novak Djokovic defeated Italy's Simone Bolelli 7-6 (7/2) 7-6 (7/2) in the second round to set up a meeting with Italy's Andreas Seppi.

Seventh-seeded James Blake, who is in the same quarter of the draw with Djokovic and is the best American hope following the late withdrawal of sixth seed Andy Roddick, reached the third round with an impressive 6-4 6-3 win over unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.

Eighth seed Andy Murray got past unseeded American Sam Querrey 7-6 (7/3) 6-1 and will take on Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who ousted 11th seed Richard Gasquet 7-6 (10/8), 6-0.

Tenth seed Fernando Verdasco also advanced with a 7-6 (7/4) 7-6 (7/4) victory over Chris Guccione.

This Wednesday night at 7:00pm (local time) Rafa Nadal will step on court to play his first round match of the Cincinnati Master Series against frenchman Florent Serra. The last time these two have played a match together was in January at the Australian Open, which Rafa won 6-0, 6-2 y 6-2..

This year's draw proved to be a flash-back to last year's. Hypothetically speaking, it is very likely he will meet David Ferrer in the quarterfinals and Novak Djokovic in the semifinals 

Rafa arrived in Ohio this Monday and was quick to admit that he's feeling a bit tired from all the matches he's played this season and that he's not exactly looking forward to the time he will spend outside of the tournament as 'there is practically nothing to do around here, there is only a shopping center, which can be boring.... The golf course is the only thing that saves me"...said Rafa. 

With seeds and raindrops falling all around him, Rafa Nadal never flinched and never faltered.

He sprinted through a soaking-wet Rogers Cup without slipping, putting the finishing touches on his fifth straight title with an emphatic 6-3, 6-2 dismissal of Germany's Nicolas Kiefer in the final of the US$2.6-million tournament on Sunday.

Just weeks after winning Wimbledon, the second-ranked Spaniard is closing in on World No. 1 Roger Federer for the ATP's top ranking. He has seven titles already this season, while Federer has two.

So is Rafa the best player in tennis

"Every player wants to be No. 1, no?" he said. "I would love to be No. 1, but I am No. 2 right now."

His opponents would disagree.

"I think he'll be the upcoming No. 1," Kiefer said following the match.

"He never misses," said France's Richard Gasquet, Rafa's victim in the quarter-finals. "He's like that all the match. You have to play so aggressive. If you don't play aggressive he has such a big forehand.

"He's the best player in the world for me, and it will be really hard for one player to win him."

Added eighth seed Andy Murray, whom Rafa ousted in the semifinals: "I just think the way that he moves and returns on the quicker courts is much better than it was before. That's why I think he'll be No. 1 in the world soon."

To this point, Rafa has taken great pains to make sure everyone knows he isn't gunning for that spot - held since Feb. 2, 2004 by Federer, who fell here in his first match to France's Gilles Simon.

"I think doesn't change too much being No. 1 or No. 2," Rafa said. "If I'm No. 1 I'm going to be prepared, sure. I am prepared. But, you know, right now I'm still No. 2.

"I think you guys forget, and that's the true right now, no? ... I think I have to be happy, very happy anyway if I am No. 1 or No. 2, because if I am No. 2, it's because in front of me there is amazing player like Roger."

Rafa has won five straight tournaments and 29 straight matches, playing as much as anyone else on the tour, he seems indefatigable. He moved beautifully throughout the week, chasing down balls that were seemingly out of his reach and never looking even the least bit vulnerable.

He dropped just a single set in the tournament.

"He's hitting his forehand so well and he moves great and his mental strength is, I think, the best on the tour," Murray said.

"So, you know, there's few guys that can sort of get up and play his game style every single day and never get tired of doing it."

Why is Rafa so unbeatable right now?

"I don't know - I mean, if I would have the solution, I would change it, but so far I didn't find a little thing," Kiefer said.

Indeed, he had no answers Sunday. Rafa seemed to have considerably less trouble with Kiefer than he did with Murray or Gasquet, breezing through the final in one hour 30 minutes. He first broke the German in the fifth game when Kiefer, down 15-40, had Nadal far out of position but gently laid his drop shot into the net.

The players then held serve until the ninth game, when Kiefer's double fault gave Rafa the set point.

But Kiefer kept fighting into the second set. He had a chance to break Nadal in the fifth game, but after going to deuce six times, Rafa took the game when Kiefer blooped a backhand well wide.

That's when Kiefer came unravelled. He double-faulted twice in the next game, then launched a forehand high and long before Nadal's forehand winner gave him the break.

Rafa went on to take seven of the next nine points, finishing with an overhead winner to ice his 30th career title, spreading his arms out and looking to the sky in celebration.

"The result was easier than the match I think," Rafa said.

The unseeded Kiefer, playing in his first ATP final since 2005, made a respectable showing but didn't play with quite the same aggressiveness that helped him get past Mardy Fish, Mikhail Youzhny, Davydenko, seventh-seeded American James Blake and Gilles Simon in prior rounds.

The 31-year-old seemed content to trade groundstrokes with Nadal. He rarely went to the net, and when he did, Nadal had an answer. When Kiefer moved in during the marathon fifth game of the second set, Rafa caught his lob with a leaping backhand. Kiefer responded by simply tossing his racket at the ball.

His first serve routinely failed him - he managed to get 47 per cent across - and he made 31 unforced errors to Rafa's 15.

Of course, Kiefer isn't the only one who hasn't been able to figure Rafa out.

"It's not only myself who's struggling with his game," Kiefer said.

For Rafa, getting a win in the first hardcourt tournament of the season was important.

"I win on every surface, no? I win on grass, on hard, on indoor, and on clay, too. So if I am playing my best tennis I can win on every surface, no?"

It was not that Andy Murray cracked, or fell apart under the gaze and groundstrokes of Rafa Nadal. No, the Scotsman swung a big racquet to the end, saving two match points with two huge forehands. He played a laudable match, a skilled and fearless match. He played well.

"Andy, I think, was playing one of his best matches against me," said Rafa.

But right now, Rafa seems to be miles ahead of a lot of the top players, and even an excellent performance from the ninth-ranked player on the ATP Tour was only enough for a 7-6 (2), 6-3 loss to a player who is, more and more, only nominally the No. 2 player in the world.

"I thought I played well, that's for sure," said Murray, who has lost all five career matches to Rafa. "I think he'll be No. 1 in the world soon."

"I feel [like] a better player than last year," said Rafa, who has won 29 straight matches. "I am playing well, no? Nothing to say about how I am playing. I am very happy about how I am playing first tournament [of the hardcourt season]."

And so Rafa will play in the finals of a Rogers Cup that has claimed every other seed in a loaded field, where he will face 31-year-old veteran Nicolas Kiefer of Germany. Kiefer overcame fellow upset-maker Gilles Simon of France, the man who dispatched Federer, in a three-hour 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (5) marathon in the late afternoon at the Rexall Centre at York University.

Simon, who won last week in Indianapolis, was playing his 10th match in under two weeks. A three-hour marathon was not a good idea.

"I didn't need this match," he said, smiling. "It was a great fight, and I'm proud of the match I've done ... I will try to forget this, and to keep Federer."

In the evening, the 21-year-old Murray played an outstanding match, but it was not enough. The players stayed on serve in the first set, but in the tiebreak Rafa served wonderfully, and forced Murray into a series of shots that landed outside the lines. The second began with a six-deuce, two-break point game on Nadal's serve. On the first break point, Rafa followed a looping topspin forehand with a delicate drop shot; on the second, he forced Murray into an uncomfortable backhand that found net.

On the sixth deuce, Murray appeared to be earning a third chance to break the Spaniard, pushing Rafa with backhands and gaining the net with a sharp forehand approach. But Rafa, on the run, hit a pitch-perfect backhand lob over Murray that was so pure the Scot angrily hacked the net cord with his racquet before the ball landed behind him, inside the baseline.

Rafa broke Murray for 3-1, was broken back on a double fault for 3-2, but broke Murray for the final time for a 5-3 lead. That game ended with a Murray forehand being called out on the baseline, and Murray reacted with disbelief. He shouted "No way!" and stood at the net for a long time, but had already spent his three replay challenges. Rafa needed three match points to serve out the match, but Murray's final backhand of the night found the net.

Rafa, 22, has already won 60 games in 2008 (to just seven lonely losses), and six titles. No other player has more that Federer's 43 wins, and two players have won half as many titles. Rafa has become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French and Wimbledon back to back, and almost as significantly, he could become the first man to take the No. 1 ranking from Federer since the Swiss master claimed it on Feb. 2, 2004.

Sunday, however, will be about the final. This will be his fifth straight final, dating back to the Masters Series event in Hamburg, and he has won every one. The previous opponents: Federer, Federer, No. 3 Novak Djokovic, and Federer, in that epic clash at Wimbledon. Kiefer, ranked 37th, has had a marvelous run through a crowded field. But you could forgive the trophy engravers if they are double-checking the spelling on Rafael, and getting a head start on their work.

Rafa Nadal recovered after a marathon tiebreak setback to book a semi-final meeting with Andy Murray in a high-tension triumph over France's Richard Gasquet in the Toronto Masters Friday.

Spain's Wimbledon and French Open champion overcame 10th-seeded Gasquet 6-7 (12/14), 6-2, 6-1 but required 2hrs, 14min to claim his 59th victory of the season.

Rafa roared back after losing the 75-minute opening set, which Gasquet claimed on his sixth set point after saving two set points for Rafa.

"It was a very tough first set," Rafa said. "I had chances, I was up a a break twice.

"But Richard played well to beat me in the set. In the second I had to stay positive and concentrated."

Murray, seeded eighth, cut short the title defense of Serbian Novak Djokovic, the eighth-seeded Scot stunning the number three by a 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) scoreline.

Murray made quick work of Djokovic - who beat Roger Federer and Nadal en route to the title last year - wrapping up an impressive victory in 1hr 44min.

"It's a big win mentally for me, the last three times I played him I lost pretty badly," Murray said.

"Rafa is always going to be a big win. It gives you confidence, especially when you've lost to him three or four times beforehand.

"I want to try and keep this sort of form."

Murray reversed a run of four straight losses against Djokovic.

"He's one of the best players, you can't make many errors against him and expect to win," added Murray, who saved a set point in the 10th game of the second set.

"If he had converted that, the momentum could have changed."

Rafa Nadal notched his 26th straight victory on Thursday as he defeated Russia's Igor Andreev 6-2 7-6 (7-1) in the the third round of the Rogers Cup.

This is Rafa's third win in four meetings against Andreev which means he's now set up a meeting with 10th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who beat Spaniard David Ferrer on Thursday.

The third seed and defending champ, Novak Djokovic took another step toward a potential semi-final clash with Rafa, moving into the quarter-finals with a 6-4 6-4 triumph over Sweden's Robin Soderling. Djokovic will now face Andy Murray, who ousted ninth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-2 0-6 6-4.

Rafa's Press Conference

TORONTO, ONTARIO 

R. NADAL/I. Andreev 6-2, 7-6 

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. 

Q. Are you happy about your performance tonight? 

RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, for sure. I play a very good match. 100% better than yesterday. Just very happy for how I play today, no? For win Andreev I have to play well, no? So I did today, and it's important for me be in this semifinal. 

Q. The first two sets looked like Federer last night a bit: Easy first set and a tough second one. Were you concerned in the second set about maybe dropping this game? 

RAFAEL NADAL: If I was a little bit? 

Q. Concerned in the second set. 

RAFAEL NADAL: If I was a little bit worried about the second set because Federer happened the same yesterday? 

Q. Uh-huh. 

RAFAEL NADAL: Doesn't matter Federer or me, no? I think it's completely different matches. I don't know. I am not looking if David Ferrer (sic) lost the second set or have a tough second set. If I have to look what Federer is do, it's nonsense, something like this, no? Just I am focus on me, no? I know I going to have tough sets and tough matches, no? So the 7-6 against Andreev is nothing strange, no? It's completely normal. 

Q. Did you watch the Federer match yesterday? And either way, what was your general impression? 

RAFAEL NADAL: I watch some things, some games, because I was waiting for my match, doubles, no? So, well, in my opinion he had a lot of chances and he had chances for win in two sets. In the third he has break up, so he had two times, I think. He had a little bit unlucky with some points, and in the end Simon play very well, no? 

Q. Since your winning match by match, don't think -- and Federer has lost already -- don't you think that he's now chasing you instead of you chasing him like this was before? 

RAFAEL NADAL: I think nobody is chasing everybody, no? Federer and me, we are trying our best in every tournament where we play, no? So finally, we will see. Right now it's true. The points are closer than ever. But, you know, every day we do our best, no? 

Q. Don't you think that since Yannick Noah left and since Djokovic earlier said that he finished with mimicking everyone on the court, that some entertaining is just get out of the tennis, of the game? It's just became just fine job, no more entertaining? 

RAFAEL NADAL: I think this is not a show, no? I think this is a sport. Everyone can do what they want. My opinion, the show or the star is the tennis. It's not the imitation of no one. So I think if the people wants to watch tennis, it's because the tennis is world sport and they want to watch the tennis, no, the matches, not the imitation. 

Q. I know we're asking a lot about the Federer match, but the result had a big impact. Do you see it as significant that he lost so early, or do you think it's something that shouldn't be paid that much attention to? 

RAFAEL NADAL: You guys, I think you really don't know how tough is play Miami, Davis Cup, Monte-Carlo, Rome, Barcelona, Hamburg, Roland Garros, Halle or Queen's next week after Wimbledon. So a lot of the matches and a lot of tournaments, well, without a stop. So after Wimbledon, tough match in the final, the body, after one match like this, after one tournament like this, is going a little bit down. For me, too. I won and I feel that -- I feel that, no? Well, he lost important match I think for him, and maybe he has to be a little bit worse than me. So you don't know how tough is be another time 100% in one week, one week and a half. Because you have to be here, and Federer yesterday plays against Simon. Simon came here winning the last tournament the week before. It's a very tough match for be the first match after being long time without playing on hard and with only some days of practice, no? 

Q. That's why we're asking you, because you know how tough it is. 

RAFAEL NADAL: For that reason I answer you. (Laughter). 

Q. Are you surprised that Andreev played as well as he did after he turned his ankle in the first set? 

RAFAEL NADAL: No. No Andreev is a very good player. I didn't surprise nothing of him. 

Q. Could you tell that he was in pain or anything? 

RAFAEL NADAL: I think he was fine. You know, sometimes have a little bit bad movement in the ankle, but later feels good. If you twist the ankle more it's very difficult to continuing playing. But I have sometimes a little bit twist and later you can play normal, no? So finally I am very happy for him, because it's tough to have an injury in this part of season. You have Olympics and Cincinnati and US Open, so a lot of important things. 

Q. How is your golf game and what is your handicap right now? 

RAFAEL NADAL: 11. So my golf game depends of the day, but not very good. 

Q. What are your plans before the US Open? 

RAFAEL NADAL: The normal thing: Play here and Cincinnati and Olympics, play the US Open. So that's the plan, but you never know, no? 

Q. Can you talk about your next match a little bit? Gasquet won the first set. 

RAFAEL NADAL: Both players are very good players. David Ferrer is a No. 4 or 5 in the world, and Gasquet is a very good player. This year he's not playing his best, but in the last weeks he's playing much better than before. Both players are very tough. Just I have to play my best tennis if I want to win tomorrow, no? 

End of FastScripts 

It was about four hours into the nearly five-hour rain delay - give or take an eternity of huddling and watching the water plummet down - during which every writer covering the Rogers Cup Wednesday began considering the idea of a story about watching The Weather Channel.

By then, a total of eight minutes of tennis had been played between American Robby Ginepri and Spain's David Ferrer. It was a fine eight minutes and everything, but not quite enough to carry the front page of the sports section.By 5 p.m., local time at the Rexall Centre, the Grand Slam-style schedule had finally begun. Rafa Nadal trundled out onto Centre Court; Ferrer, the No. 5 player in the world, resumed his match over on the grandstand; and four other matches fanned out across four other recently squeegeed courts. For most of the day, the covered Rexall Centre concourses had resembled the most affluent refugee camp in the world, until the tennis came to liberate them.

The world's No. 2 had not played since winning the greatest match ever played over No. 1 Roger Federer at Wimbledon two weeks earlier, and had practised on hardcourt for barely more than a week. That might have explained how the muscled Spaniard fell behind Ottawa-born American qualifier Jesse Levine 4-1 in the first set, getting broken at love and having to escape two more break points at 1-4. Rafa was tentative, and the kid across the net was swinging away.

"He started playing very well, amazing shots," said Rafa, 22. "After some games I started to feel a little bit better, no?"

Indeed, against the sport's giants matches can turn quickly, and this one did. Levine failed on both break chances to push it to 5-1, and an awakened Rafa won the next five games, and the first set.

"I think I was in that zone where I wasn't sure really where I was," Levine said. "And then I came to my senses and realized I'm playing Rafa on (the) stadium court."

"Today wasn't my best match," Rafa said. "I have to be better, that's for sure. (I have to play with) more topspin, and . . . especially more intensity."

Levine has served as a hitting partner for Federer in Dubai, and he failed to totally dissipate. After Nadal broke him for a 3-1 lead, Levine forced three break points in the next game, each of which represented a chance to make it a match. They vanished, though, and the final score read 6-4, 6-2.

"You get that feeling playing against him - you feel like you've got to do something bigger than normal, which is not the right feeling to have, because he is human," Levine said. "You try and come up with shots from out of your mind, or out of your shorts . . . but the guy doesn't make many mistakes."

The bad news? As of the early evening, the Weather Channel forecast called for scattered showers, then a chance of thundershowers, between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. today in the Toronto area. So that story may wind up getting written after all.

Wimbledon champion Rafa Nadal may face a Canadian in his first match at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. Rafa will receive a bye in the first round of the tournament before facing either Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus or Peter Polansky, a native of Thornhill, Ont.

Rafa's potential quarter-final opponent will be No. 5 seed and fellow Spaniard David Ferrer. Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic would meet Rafa if both players advance to the semi-finals.

he tournament’s No. 1 seed, Roger Federer, looks to have the easiest path to the finals among the big three players on the ATP Tour right now. Americans Andy Roddick and James Blake are on his side of the draw along with Russian No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko. 

Canada’s top singles player, Frank Dancevic, will open his tournament against Croatian Mario Ancic. If Dancevic advances he would face Djokovic in the second round.

The Rogers Cup will start on Monday at the Rexall Centre iin Toronto. The top eight seeds have received a bye through the first round. They are in order: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Davydenko, Ferrer, Roddick, Blake and Murray.

New Wimbledon champion Rafa Nadal has withdrawn from this week's Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart where he is the Defending champion. Rafa is in great need of a break after playing non-stop for the last 5 months.

Rafa suffered a knee injury while playing at Wimbledon in his third-round win against Mikhail Youzhny and in order to prevent any further complications he has taken his doctor's advice to stop playing and rest for a bit.

The Spanish star flew to Germany to apologise in person to tournament organisers and expressed his regret at missing the competition."This was the least I can do. I'm disappointed that I can't play," said Rafa."The calendar is hard on us players, I have played four, five months without a break. I have to recover."Organisers hope to introduce a later start date next year, creating a longer break after the Wimbledon final.

Rafa, who also won the 'French Open' for a fourth consecutive year, will now have a few days rest as doctors examine the injury to establish an exact diagnosis, before he confirms his schedule.

With the US Open looking on August 25, Rafa will want to make sure he is in peak fitness for the hard court event where he will look to improve his performance.

Rafa Nadal fell flat on his back in a mixture of unbridled joy and sheer exhaustion in near darkness last night as he fulfilled his dream to add the Wimbledon title to the four French Opens he has already won.

The “King of Clay” as Rafa is famously known around the tennis world is now aspiring to become the king of grass after deposing one of the finest champions this great tournament has ever produced, Roger Federer, the five times champion from Switzerland.

gripping, rain-interrupted final eventually went the way of the second seed 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 at 9.20pm local time (12.20am) after 4hrs 48min of breathtaking tennis -- the longest men’s final in the illustrious history of this tournament.

Rafa midway through a prolonged, disjointed day looked like winning in straight sets but the first and longer of two rain breaks worked in favour of Federer, who took advantage of a 69-minute breather to regroup, reconsider his tactics and win the next two sets in tie-breaks, saving two Championship points in the second of them which spanned 18 points.That took the thrilling encounter to a deciding set, just as it had been last year, but this time Rafa, who had glorious chances to win 12 months ago, would not be denied.

He was frustrated by his failure to take break points in the 11th game of the 75-minute decider but eventually accepted his opportunity to break his rival in the 15th game and then close it out on his fourth match point. Federer, who last year equalled Bjorn Borg’s modern day best of five straight triumphs between 1976 and 1980, was seeking to equal a record of six successive titles set in the 19th Century by the Englishman William Renshaw.

The Swiss maestro appeared to be in the mood to do it as he cruised through to another final without dropping a set but Rafa, who had taken a massive psychological advantage by thrashing Federer for the concession of only four games in Paris last month, entered yesterday’s showdown in equally impressive form.Rafa made an effortless transition to grass by winning the warm-up tournament at Queen’s Club before roaring through to another final for the loss of only one set in the six matches he played.

He produced what is considered to be the performance of the fortnight when he pulverised the home nation’s great hope Andy Murray in the quarter-finals on his way to earn a third successive final meeting with the world No1.The first of those finals was close, the second even closer, but the third was Rafa all the way, certainly up until the rain break. His biggest scare in episode one of the contest came when he fell heavily behind the baseline early in the first set, requiring a brief visit from the physiotherapist at the changeover.

Rafa, still only 22, stunned Federer, who will be 27 next month, by breaking serve in the third game of the match -- only the third time the top seed had suffered that misfortune during the fortnight -- and that was sufficient for him to claim the opening set.It appeared that Federer was about to turn matters his way when he raced into a 4-1 lead in the second set but Rafa responded brilliantly to that crisis by rattling off the next five games to take a two-set lead and control of the match. 

Not even a cruel call of a code violation by the French umpire Pascal Maria for taking two long between points while serving could knock the Spaniard out of his confident stride.The third set produced some outstanding rallies and was nip and tuck all the way until rain, which had delayed the start by 35 minutes, returned and the two gladiators were brushed aside by the court covers before scurrying away to the locker room.When they reappeared with the world’s most famous tennis court bathed in evening sunshine, Rafa faced the daunting task of having to serve to stay in the set at 4-5.

The Spaniard was up the challenge but the Swiss held his nerve in the ensuing tie-break to take the tremendous battle into a fourth set.The swashbuckling Spaniard came within two points of the title in the 10th game of that nerve-wracking fourth set but Federer showed what a true champion he is by holding on to go into another tie-break.Rafa led 5-2 but tightened noticeably and double-faulted to reprieve his rival. He still got to match point at 7-6 and again at 8-7, only for Federer to produce his best tennis of the match and squeeze through it 10-8.