Improbable as it seems, a title for Murray wouldn't be all that shocking

NEW YORK -- He goes against the champion now. Andy Murray beat the man at the top, the man who is No. 1 in the rankings. Andy Murray out-served, out-ran and outplayed Rafael Nadal. And now he gets the champion, Roger Federer.

A surprise in the U.S. Open men's final scheduled Monday. Or it is a surprise? Murray has been on the edge, on the verge.

Andy Murray takes advantage of a weary Nadal, and he's 2-1 head-to-head against Roger Federer. (AP)

The talk was the young Scot, who doesn't like to talk, was going to step forward. And so he has stepped, with a 6-2, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 victory in a semifinal that started Saturday and, after a rain suspension, ended Sunday.

So it's Murray, 21, against Federer, who had a day off after what the critics contend has been a season off.

Now it's Murray trying to keep Federer from winning a fifth consecutive Open, something that hasn't been done since Bill Tilden took six in a row in the early 1920s. Murray is in his first Grand Slam final of any kind.

This isn't what was expected, Nadal, the No. 1 seed, whipped by Murray, to whom he had never lost. Maybe it should have been expected.

Nadal never has done particularly well at the Open, never previously had been beyond the quarters. And Rafael Nadal -- French Open champ, Wimbledon champ, Olympic champ -- was worn out.

"Probably more than 84 matches (this year)," Nadal sighed. "It's difficult every day to be fresh. So I knew one day something was going to happen like (Saturday). I was not playing well. I was not at my best. And he played well. He served well.

"(Sunday) I played well. I played with more energy. (Saturday) it was more difficult to concentrate. He beat me. Just congratulate him."

Beat him for the first time in six matches. Beat him by making Nadal play Murray's game, instead of the other way around. Beat him, even though Rafa had won 43 of his previous 44 matches overall and 24 of 25 in the year's four Grand Slam events.

This was a collision of individuals going, for the match at least, in opposite directions.

Murray, physically fit after months of special training, mentally sharp, was at the peak of his game. Nadal, weary, kept off balance, was struggling to catch up. And couldn't.

Murray had won the first two sets Saturday. Nadal led 3-2 in the third set when around 3:40 p.m., Hannah, that vamp of a tropical storm, hit the New York area with the first raindrops of a deluge that would last until almost midnight.