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Gilles Muller caused one of the biggest shocks of Wimbledon 2017 with a five-set victory over Rafael Nadal. In a tick under five hours, Muller completed the monumental win to take the fifth set 15-13.
Spaniard Rafael Nadal will face his toughest challenge so far at Wimbledon when he takes on Gilles Muller in the fourth round. Join The Roar for live scores from 11:30pm (AEST).
Nadal hasn’t dropped a set in his last ten matches. He has won 30 sets of tennis across an unbeaten French Open and the first three rounds of Wimbledon and not dropped one.
That’s an incredible statistic. It’s even more staggering when you consider he has only dropped 61 games across those 30 sets – that’s an average of just over two games per set.
He is in what might well be the form of his life, despite getting on in age and he hasn’t slowed down changing from the clay court to the grass court for Wimbledon.
John Millman and Donald Young were easily dispatched in the first two rounds of The Championships, before the up and coming Karen Khachanov took him to a tie-breaker in the third set, but Nadal easily moved past, winning it 7-3.
It’s tough to see where Nadal’s next loss is coming from, but Muller has also been in strong form after an incredibly disappointing first-round exit at the French Open.
He kicked off his grass court season in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, defeating Alijaz Bedene and Alexander Zverev on the way to a straight-set thumping of the big-serving Ivo Karlovic in the final.
Muller then moved onto the AEGON Championships, thumping Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Sam Querrey to make the semi-finals, before being tossed out by Marin Cilic. It took three sets for Cilic to get over though and continued to prove the form of Muller.
At Wimbledon, it was a straight sets win over Marton Fucsovics, before he beat Lukas Rosol in a five-set epic to the tune of 7-5, 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 9-7.
He was back to his best in the third round though, going over Bedene in straight sets.
The pair have played on six previous occasions, with Nadal winning five. Two of those matches have come at Wimbledon, with Muller knocking Nadal out in 2005 and the Spaniard returning the favour in 2011.
Prediction
Nadal is still the favourite and rightfully so, but Muller will go closer than a lot of people think. He has a good serve and isn’t the 16th seed for nothing, based on his grass court game over the last number of years. If Nadal’s serve is even slightly off, there could be an upset.
But it’s impossible to tip against the world No.2.
Nadal in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this fourth round match from 11:30pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments throughout the course of the coverage.