Nadal shocked in five-set marathon
LONDON — 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 4½ hours, Nadal faltered yesterday, getting broken 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.
“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. Just tried to hang in there. Still kept believing. Yeah, somehow in the end, I made it.”
The surprising defeat extended Nadal’s drought without a quarterfinal berth at the All England Club to six years.
“I played with the right determination, right passion, right attitude, to win the match” Nadal said.
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 yesterday’s, came against men ranked 100th in the world 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’s powerful serve and crisp volleys make him what Nadal called “uncomfortable” to play against. And Muller already owned one victory over Nadal at Wimbledon back in the second round in 2005.
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.
“When you are in the fifth, against a player like him, (the outcome) just depends on a few balls,” Nadal said, shaking his head. “Actually, he was a little better than me on a few balls.”
Now Muller will face 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic in tomorrow’s quarterfinals.
Other quarterfinals matchups: defending champion Andy Murray against American Sam Querrey, Roger Federer against Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych against Novak Djokovic or Adrian Mannarino. The Djokovic-Mannarino fourth-rounder was postponed until today because of darkness. It was to follow the marathon Nadal-Muller match,
On the women’s side, Venus Williams is the oldest woman in the quarterfinals since 1994. Johanna Konta is the first British woman to make it that far since 1984. And Angelique Kerber’s loss means she’ll relinquish the No. 1 ranking.
Jelena Ostapenko needed eight match points for her latest win, and latest proof that last month’s French Open title was no fluke. Magdalena Rybarikova, a Slovakian ranked 87th, reached her first quarterfinal in 36 Grand Slam tournaments.
Those were among the significant goings-on in fourth-round action.
Konta won 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 against No. 21 Caroline Garcia of France. Not since Jo Durie 33 years ago has the host country had a woman in the quarterfinals. Britain’s last female champion was Virginia Wade in 1977.
“I’ve dreamed of it ever since I was a little girl, to be a Grand Slam champion,” said Konta, who had won just one match in five previous Wimbledon appearances.
Five-time champion Williams is 37; each of her past two opponents is 19. Now the American faces Ostapenko, who turned 20 last month and was born after Williams made her Grand Slam debut at the 1997 French Open.
“Winning never gets old at any stage in your career. Ever,” Williams said, then repeated that final word for emphasis. She’s the oldest quarterfinalist since Martina Navratilova was 38 in 1994.
The other women’s quarterfinal matchups today: Konta vs. No. 2 Simona Halep, Muguruza vs. two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and Rybarikova against 24th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe of the U.S.
Halep, who lost to Ostapenko in the French Open final, defeated former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (3), 6-2 and would replace Kerber at No. 1 if she eliminates Konta next. If Halep loses, then 2016 U.S. Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova would move atop the rankings despite a second-round exit at Wimbledon.
Rybarikova was a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 winner against No. 135 qualifier Petra Martic.