RAFAEL NADAL GOES DOWN TO MULLER, ROGER FEDERER FLIES INTO QUARTERS, DJOKOVIC MATCH POSTPONED

Written by: Staff on 10th July 2017

RAFAEL NADAL GOES DOWN TO MULLER, ROGER FEDERER FLIES INTO QUARTERS, DJOKOVIC MATCH POSTPONED

epa06073315 Rafael Nadal of Spain returns to Karen Khachanov of Russia in their third round match during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 07 July 2017. EPA/GERRY PENNY EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO COMMERCIAL SALES |

Nadal goes down to Muller, Federer flies into quarters, Djokovic postponed

By Ricky Dimon

Three of the Big 4 survived manic Monday at Wimbledon, although one did not even take the court and must come back out tomorrow. The lone casualty of the top seeds was Rafael Nadal, who lost an epic five-setter against Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 after four hours and 47 minutes.

At 34 years old, Muller is through to the quarterfinals at the All-England Club for the first time in his career. In fact, the Luxembourgian had never previously been the fourth round–had never played on the traditional middle Monday.

To say he made the most of this first-time opportunity would be a gross understatement. Muller made up for dropping the third and fourth sets to Nadal by playing a brilliant decider. The world No. 26 fired 44 winners in the fifth set alone and converted his fifth break chance of the set to clinch victory when Nadal set a forehand long at 13-14, 15-30.

“I just tried to hang in there,” Muller explained. “I thought I played pretty well through the whole match. Rafa stepped it up in the third and the fourth sets. Then I just told myself, ‘Look, I’m doing the best I can. I’m playing well. Just hang in there and you’re going to get your chances.’ Got a few of them. Didn’t take the first ones; but still kept believing. Yeah, somehow in the end I made it.”

“Well done for him,” Nadal said of Muller. “He played well. Especially in the fifth, he played great. I was there; [fought] until the last ball, with the right attitude. Probably was not my best match, but at the same time I played against a very uncomfortable opponent.”

Roger Federer faced an opponent who has never been uncomfortable for him. The 35-year-old Swiss improved to 6-0 lifetime against Grigor Dimitrov by cruising into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory.

Federer needed only one hour and 37 minutes to advance.

“I feel like I’m rested enough,” said the seven-time Wimbledon champion, who will run into Milos Raonic on Wednesday. “I’ve had, you know, not the most toughest matches. I can look at this quarterfinal in a totally relaxed fashion. Physically I’m not fighting anything like last year with my knee.”

Federer lost to Raonic in a five-set semifinal last year.

Another rematch from the 2016 Wimbledon event will come on Tuesday, when Novak Djokovic and Adrian Mannarino will wrap up fourth-round action. Their match was postponed when the Muller-Nadal match lasted almost until darkness on Court 1. Djokovic and Mannarino squared off in the second round last summer, when the Serb prevailed 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5).