Nadal ousted after epic with Mueller
First, Rafael Nadal erased a two-set deficit. Then, he erased four match points. Nadal could not, however, erase the fifth.
After digging himself out of difficult situations over and over during the course of a riveting encounter that lasted more than four hours, 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.
The surprising defeat extended Nadal’s drought without a quarterfinal 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 quarterfinal once before, at the 2008 U.S. Open.
But Muller managed to pull this one out, unfazed but allowing opportunities to pass him by.
Nadal served from behind throughout the final set and was twice a point from losing in its 10th game. He again was twice a point from losing in the 20th. Only when Muller got yet another chance to end it did he, when Nadal got broken by pushing a forehand long.
Nadal entered the fourth-round match having won 28 consecutive completed sets in Grand Slam play, equaling his personal best and a total exceeded only twice in the Open era.
He arrived at the All England Club coming off his record 10th French Open championship, and 15th major trophy overall, and seemed primed to be a factor once again at the grass-court tournament.
Muller, though, presented problems. He already owned one victory over Nadal at Wimbledon, back in the second round in 2005.
That was before Nadal figured out how to bring his talents to bear on grass. From 2006-11, Nadal reached the final in five consecutive appearances at Wimbledon (he missed it in 2009 because of bad knees), winning titles in 2008 and 2010.
Muller’s next opponent will be 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic.
Other men’s quarterfinals matchups are defending champion Andy Murray vs. 24th-seeded Sam Querrey of the U.S., seven-time champion Roger Federer vs. 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic and 2010 runner-up Tomas Berdych against Novak Djokovic or Adrian Mannarino. The Djokovic-mannarino fourthrounder was postponed after being scheduled to be played on No. 1 Court after Nadal-muller concluded.
Roger Federer has become the most prolific men’s quarter-finalist in Wimbledon history with a brutal straight-sets dispatch of Grigor Dimitrov.
The seven-times champion and 10-times finalist needed less than 90 minutes to join top-seeded titleholder Andy Murray in the last eight with an ominous 6-4 6-2 6-4 fourth-round triumph.
Murray earlier saw off Frenchman Benoit Paire in straight sets to qualify for his 10th consecutive quarter-final at The All England Club.
Britain’s two-time champion recovered from a service break down in the opening set to advance 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-4. Querry, the big-serving American, outlasted South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-7 (11-13) 6-3 in five sets.
Dark horse Cilic progressed to his fourth straight Wimbledon quarterfinal with an impressive straight-sets win over 18th seed Roberto Bautista-agut.
The Croatian seventh seed overpowered the Spaniard 6-2 6-2 6-2 to book a last- eight spot. The 2014 US Open champion, Cilic has yet to make a semi-final at the grasscourt grand slam.
Berdych is also through to the last eight following a hard-fought 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory over Austrian eighth seed Dominic Thiem.
Meanwhile in the women’s draw five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams won, and top-ranked Angelique Kerber lost.
Williams, who last won the title at the All England Club in 2008, advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals by beating 19-year-old Ana Konjuh 6-3 6-2 on Monday (Tuesday NZ Time).
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.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.