Wimbledon: Nadal eliminated in marathon.
16th-seeded Muller had lost 22 straight against top-five foes
LONDON - First, Rafael Nadal erased a twoset 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 41⁄2 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, 1513, 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 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.
“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.
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.”
Roger Federer and Andy Murray, much to the delight of the Centre Court crowd, also reached the quarterfinals.
Federer is a seventime champion at the All England Club and one of the fan favorites. He advanced to the quarterfinals 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.
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 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 topranked 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 20year-old Latvian, who won her first title at Roland Garros last month, beat fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina, 6-3, 7-6 (6).