On Monday, Luxembourg's Gilles Muller (seeded #16) defeated Spain's Rafael Nadal (seeded #4) in an epic match on Court 1 at Wimbledon.
Having won the first two sets, 6-3, 6-4, Muller then saw the momentum of the match swing the other way, with Nadal, the French Open winner, then taking the 3rd set 6-3 and the 4th set 6-4.
With nothing between them, the two powerful left-handers slogged it out in a match where the quality of the play was getting better, if anything. Mixing aces with sublime drop-shots, both players were thrilling the crowd which included Luxembourg's Prince Felix. Neither player was prepared to have their service broken, and Muller had had four match points, all on Nadal's serve, before the 5th set was 14-13 for Muller, with Nadal serving. At 15-40 and two more match points to play for, Muller's resilience took him over the line.
While the crowd may have been behind Nadal, they gave both players a standing ovation at the end of this epic encounter. In the fifth set, with no challenges remaining, Nadal could be seen to be letting his frustration out, while Muller still had his composure throughout.
In Wednesday's quarter-finals, Gilles Muller will be up against Croatia's Marin cilic (seeded #7), who won his 4th round match today 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
Final score: Muller def. Nadal 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13.
