Wimbledon 2017 : showdown as Muller beats Nadal

Muller knocks out Rafael at Wimbledon 2017

In what has been described one as the longest and arguably the finest match of this year's tournament earning both players a standing ovation and rapturous applause, wimbledon finalists Nadal and Muller slugged it out till the best emerged.
Rafael Nadal's saw his hopes of winning a third Wimbledon title this year dashed by Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, as Muller played his heart out in an epic five-set defeat by 16th seed, even world number two Nadal's trademark competitiveness could not see off Muller in a gripping final set.

Nadal's mental resilience and physical endurance has long been lauded, but the cool-headed Muller impressively refused to buckle as he finally claimed his fifth match point over an hour and a half after missing his first.

The 15-time major champion fought back from two sets down before Muller took a fifth match point to win 6-3 6-4 3-6 4-6 15-13 in four hours and 47 minutes.

Nadal served out nine games to stay in the contest as the pair exchanged 32 holds in a gripping finale.

A tense climax saw the Spaniard save two match points to level at 5-5 and miss four break points of his own at 9-9.

Still the drama continued as Muller failed to convert two more match points at 10-9, until he eventually completed the best win of his career.

It ended the Spaniard's bid to win back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles for a joint-record third time.

"That was tough," said Muller, who has reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final since the 2008 US Open.

"In the last two match points I just said give it 100%.

The match lasted for 2 hours 15 minutes - more than half an hour longer than Roger Federer's win over Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov.

Muller, 34, will play Croatia's seventh seed Marin Cilic in the last eight.

Novak Djokovic's match against unseeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, scheduled as the third match on Court One, was postponed until Tuesday as a result.