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.