NADAL'S OUT IN SHOCK
RAFA NADAL suffered the biggest shock of this Wimbledon following a marathon five-set defeat to Gilles Muller.
In a match lasting four hours and 48 minutes – and a final set that stretched to two hours 15 minutes – Nadal finally cracked after saving four match points.
His loss opens up the draw as Nadal had been lined up to face Andy Murray in the semi-final.
Instead he was left licking his wounds after crashing out 6-3 6-4 3-6 4-6 15-13. The Spaniard banged his head warming up and the two-time Wimbledon winner was ® then left nursing a headache against Muller, whose first and last match points were amazingly 90 minutes apart.
Fourth seed Nadal found it tough to cope with his fellow left-hander who turned in a nerveless display of serve and volley in front of a mesmerised Court One.
The victory was greeted with a standing ovation, with Nadal winning plenty of fans by waiting to walk off alongside Muller.
The Luxembourg ace, 34, said: “I haven’t really realised what just happened.
“I was watching in the sky thinking it would all be over soon and we’d have to come back the next day.
“With the last two match points I just thought I’d give it a good go. In the end it was just a big battle.”
The 16th seed now faces Marin Cilic in the last eight.
Muller had two match points at 5-4 and another two at 10-9, but Nadal finally folded at 15-40 and 13-14 down, losing the match due to a couple of forehand errors.
Nadal said: “Well done for him – he played well, especially in the fifth set when he played great.
“It was not my best match but at the same time I played against a very uncomfortable opponent.”
Croatian star Cilic overpowered Spanish opponent Roberto Bautista Agut, running out a 6-2 6-2 6-2 winner on Court 12.
Bautista Agut, seeded 18, had no answer to Cilic’s powerful groundstrokes.
Cilic now bids to end his record of never having been past the last eight at SW19, having gone out at that stage for the last three tournaments.