Muller stuns Nadal in Wimbledon classic

Gilles Muller on Monday knocked out fourth seed Rafael Nadal in a classic fourth round match of the Wimbledon championship after a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 victory.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 12 years after defeating a then-19-year-old Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, 16th seed Gilles Muller has done it again.

After what many may want to dub the match of the tournament, the Luxembourg native is through to his first quarter-final at the All England Club in an epic fourth-round clash.

Muller grabbed the lone break of the opening set at 3-2 to take the early advantage.

Both men remained on serve in the second set until 4-4, when a backhand approach from Nadal found its way into the net and gave Muller another break.

The Luxembourg native ripped a forehand up the line on his second set point for a commanding lead.

But in typical Nadal fashion, the Spaniard refused to go away quietly and broke Muller twice for a 4-1 lead in the third set.

The 16th seed earned one of the breaks back, but Nadal confidently served out the set to close the gap.

A backhand unforced error from Muller at 2-2 in the fourth set provided Rafa with the crucial break and he ultimately levelled the contest.

Both men traded service holds throughout the marathon fifth set as Nadal went down two match points at 4-5, before erasing them with aggressive baseline play.

Muller did some digging of his own as well, saving a break point at 6-6 with a service winner and four more break points at 9-9.

The 16th seed eventually fired his 100th ace of the tournament to hold serve.

Muller earned a third match point chance with Nadal serving at 9-10, but the Spaniard erased it with a forehand volley winner.

A fourth match point also came and went after the Luxembourg native sent a forehand return long and Nadal eventually held serve for 10-10.

But with Nadal serving at 13-14, a forehand long on Muller’s fifth match point ended the contest after four hours and 47 minutes.

Muller improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Nadal to 2-4, with three of their matches coming at Wimbledon.

He has also won more matches than anyone on grass this year, with 10 victories coming into this contest against Nadal.

Muller took the title at the Ricoh Open and he was a semi-finalist at the Aegon Championships.

Next up for Muller is seventh seed Marin Cilic, a winner earlier in the day over 18th seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

Cilic leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Muller 2-0, including a semi-final victory last month at the Aegon Championships.