Raonic nets Federer in quarters
WIMBLEDON: Nestor and Klepac next meet Melichar and Begemann in mixed doubles
LONDON — Canada’s Milos Raonic is through to the Wimbledon quarter-finals after posting a 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Germany’s Alexander Zverev on Monday.
Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., struggled against the 10th seeded German early on and looked to be in trouble after falling behind two sets to one.
But a break to win the fourth set seemed to invigorate the sixth-seeded Canadian, who steamrolled to victory with a dominant fifth set.
He served to love in the deciding game, converting his first match point with his 23rd ace.
Raonic, a finalist last year at Wimbledon, will face Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.
In mixed doubles second-round action, Toronto’s Daniel Nestor and Slovenian partner Andreja Klepac defeated India’s Purav Raja and Japan’s Eri Hozumi 6-2, 7-5. The 11th-seeded Nestor and Klepac next meet American Nicole Melichar and Germany’s Andre Begemann.
Meanwhile, after digging himself out of difficult situations over and over during the course of a riveting encounter that lasted more than 4 1/2 hours, Rafael Nadal suddenly faltered, getting broken in the last game and losing to 16th-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 in the fourth round of Wimbledon on Monday.
“It’s tough to say what, exactly, made the difference at the end,” Muller said. “To be honest, I haven’t really realized what just happened.”
The surprising defeat extended Nadal’s drought without a quarter-final berth at the All England Club to six years.
He has won two of his 15 Grand Slam championships at Wimbledon, and played in the final three other times, most recently in 2011. But since then, Nadal’s exits at the All England Club have come in the first round (2013), second round (2012, 2015) and fourth round (2014, 2017).
All of those losses, except Monday’s, came against men ranked 100th or worse. The 34-year-old Muller is not exactly a giant-killer: He had lost 22 consecutive matches against foes ranked in the top five. And he’d only reached a Grand Slam quarter-final once before, at the 2008 U.S. Open.
“If I had lost that match,” Muller said, “it would have been tough to digest.”
But Muller’s powerful serve and crisp volleys make him what Nadal called “uncomfortable” to play. And Muller — who already owned one victory over Nadal at Wimbledon, back in the second round in 2005 — managed to pull this one out, unfazed despite allowing opportunities to pass him by.
Federer, a seven-time champion at the All England Club and one of the fan favourites, advanced by beating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, while Andy Murray downed Benoit Paire 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4.
In the women’s draw, five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams won, while top-ranked Angelique Kerber lost.
Williams beat 19-year-old Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-2, while Kerber, who reached the Wimbledon final last year but lost to Serena Williams, was beaten by Garbine Muguruza 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. The 20-year-old Latvian beat fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 (6).
Two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Magdalena Rybarikova, CoCo Vandeweghe and Johanna Konta also advanced to the quarters.