Muller beats Nadal to reach Wimbledon quarterfinals

CHRIS LEHOURITES

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON — Rafael Nadal was beaten in the fourth round at Wimbledon on Monday, losing to Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13.

The two-time champion at the All England Club saved two match points in the 10th game of the fifth set, and two more in the 20th game.

Nadal dropped the opening set despite not making an unforced error, ending his Grand Slam set winning streak.

Nadal had won 28 consecutive completed sets at major tournaments, equaling his personal best. Only two men have had longer such runs: Roger Federer won 36 Grand Slam sets in a row in 2006-07, and John McEnroe had a 35-set run in 1984.

The last set lost by Nadal at a major was the fifth in the Australian Open final in January against Federer. After that, Nadal won his 10th French Open title without conceding a set, then won his first three matches at Wimbledon in straight sets.

Roger Federer and Andy Murray, much to the delight of the Centre Court crowd, also reached the quarter-finalss.

Federer, a seven-time champion at the All England Club and one of the fan favourites, advanced to the quarters for the 15th time by beating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

“I didn’t expect it go to that easy,” said Federer, the Australian Open champion. “It wasn’t as easy maybe as it looks like.”

Murray is also adored at the grass-court major. He is a two-time Wimbledon champion, but maybe more important, he is British and in 2013 became the first homegrown player to win the men’s title in 77 years.

On Monday, he beat Benoit Paire 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4.

“I’ve done a good job so far here,” said Murray, the defending champion. “Today was by far the best I hit the ball, the cleanest I hit the ball. I was happy about that.”

The first man to reach the quarterfinals was Marin Cilic. The seventh-seeded Croat beat Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Cilic, who won the U.S. Open in 2014, will be playing the quarterfinals at the All England Club for the fourth straight year.

In the women’s draw, five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams won, and topranked Angelique Kerber lost.

Federer first reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2001 and then won the first of five straight titles in 2003. He will next face Canada’s Milos Raonic.

MurraywillplaySamQuerreyonWednesday. The 24th-seeded American defeated Kevin Anderson 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (11), 6-3.

Williams, who last won the title at the All England Club in 2008, advanced to the quarterfinals by beating 19-year-old Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-2. She is playing at the grass-court major for the 20th time in her career. Her Wimbledon debut came a few months before Konjuh was born.

“Winning never gets old at any stage in your career, ever, ever,” Williams said.

Kerber, who reached the Wimbledon final last year but lost to Serena Williams, was beaten by Garbine Muguruza on No. 2 Court, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

With the loss by Kerber, either Simona Halep or Karolina Pliskova will take over as the top-ranked player after the tournament. Halep also advanced Monday, while Pliskova lost in the second round.

Williams will next face French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals. The 20-year-old Latvian, who won her first tour-level title at Roland Garros last month, beat fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Court 12.

“I think I’ll see what happens when I get out there,” Williams said of Ostapenko. “I mean, I’m sure she hits well off all sides. I have to see what the nuances are once the game starts, because you can’t necessarily plan for those.”

Ostapenko led Svitolina 5-3 in the second set, but was broken and forced into a tiebreaker. She finally won by converting her eighth match point.

In the quarterfinals, Rybarikova will face Vandeweghe, while Halep will play Konta.