The Monday madness in the Wimbledon Championship is over. Roger Federer advances to the quarterfinals, while Rafael Nadal loses the thriller against Gilles Muller.
A career win for Gilles Muller
Gilles Muller, a 34-year-old from Luxembourg, has never played a Grand Slam quarterfinal match in his long career, and that will change on Wednesday. Muller beat Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, and 15-13 after five hours of play.
The world's no. 26 player played incredible tennis in the first two sets, finishing them with 26 winners and ten aces. Rafael Nadal lost the first set 6-3 even though he had zero unforced errors in that set. Muller was absolutely incredible on his serve as he took a 2-0 lead. Nadal responded in the next two sets and tied the match at two apiece.
The players entered into the fifth set and the real drama started at the Centre Court. Nadal saved two match points on his serve at 5-4 and then had a break point chance at 6-6, but Muller held his nerve and managed to win the game. The next opportunity for Nadal was at 9-9 when he had a several break point chances after deuce, but Muller saved them all.
Rafa found himself in a real trouble in the next game, when he saved two more match points. Finally, Muller took advantage of his fifth match point at 13-14 as Rafa's forehand went out of line. Muller finished the match with 95 winners and 30 aces, while Nadal had 77 winners and 23 aces in the match.
Gilles Muller will play against Marin Cilic in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Federer wins easily
Roger Federer defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. The Bulgarian nicknamed "Baby Federer“ was very nervous in this match as he finished the match with seven double faults and 25 unforced errors in just 28 games. Federer served well the entire match, losing his service game once and saving two break points.
Federer should be fresh and ready for his quarterfinal match against Milos Raonic, as he spent just one hour and 41 minutes on the court.
Raonic had a difficult job in the fourth round as he faced young German star Alexander Zverev. Zverev won the first set and had an early break in the second set, but he was unable to hold on his serve as the Canadian won the set 7-5. Raonic was down again after the third set, and it looked like Zverev had the situation under his control. But he lost his service game at 6-5 as Raonic pushed the match into the fifth set. It was all about the Canadian in that set, and he won it 6-1.