Murray, Federer cruise as Nadal’s epic comeback falls short

Defending champion and No. 1 seed Andy Murray reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the 10th consecutive year and Roger Federer for the 15th time with straight-sets victories at the All England Club on Monday, but Rafael Nadal’s epic comeback came up short.

The match of the day came late when No. 4 seed Nadal of Spain lost a marathon, losing to 16th-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 in a five-set thriller that lasted four hours, 48 minutes.

Murray, the world No. 1 from Scotland, beat Benoit Paire 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4 of France before the home crowd on Centre Court in London.

Federer, the seven-time Wimbledon champion and No. 3 seed from Switzerland, dominated 13th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in one hour, 37 minutes, also on Centre Court. Federer now stands alone atop the Open Era list for most Wimbledon quarterfinal appearances.

Novak Djokovic’s fourth-round match against Adrian Mannarino of France was postponed until Tuesday. The No. 2 seed from Serbia was due to be third on No. 1 Court, but the Nadal-Muller match ended just after 8:30 p.m. local time.

Muller advanced to a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the second time in his career and the first time since the 2008 U.S. Open.

“I’m tired,” Muller said afterward. “It was a long match. I was two sets up — I played really well in the first two sets — and then Rafa stepped it up, and then at the end it was just a big battle.”

“To be honest, I haven’t really realized what just happened. It’s a great feeling. … I’m just glad it’s over and I’m in the quarterfinals now.”

Nadal, the reigning French Open champion, had won 28 consecutive completed sets at major tournaments before losing the first set to Muller. The two-time champion at the All England Club saved two match points in the 10th game of the fifth set, and two more in the 20th game.

Nadal has not been to the Wimbledon quarterfinals since 2011 and missed grass-court Grand Slam event last year because of a wrist injury.

“He played well,” Nadal said of Muller. “I think I didn’t play my best the first two sets. I was all the time against the score and that’s so difficult against a player like him. He played great, especially in the fifth set. It probably was not my best match but at the same time I played against a very uncomfortable opponent.

“I lost in the fourth round, not a result I was expecting. It’s tough to analyze that in a positive way right now. I won matches, I played better than other years, that’s true but at the same time I was ready for other things. I missed an opportunity.”

Murray, who has two Wimbledon titles, is 7-2 in his previous nine quarterfinal matches.

“Today was by far the best I hit the ball, the cleanest I hit the ball,” Murray said in his post-match press conference. “I was happy about that. Last couple of days, practice has been really good, as well.

“I didn’t feel great during my last match. I didn’t feel like I played so well, not loads of rhythm in the first two matches. I definitely felt better today. You know, that’s positive moving into the last few days of the tournament.”

Murray has now reached at least the quarterfinals at 24 of his past 26 Grand Slam tournaments.

The second Monday at Wimbledon is the busiest in tennis, with all 16 fourth-round matches scheduled to be played on the same day that would produce all eight male and all eight female quarterfinalists.

With Johanna Konta reaching the quarterfinals of the women’s draw, Great Britain has a representative in the last eight of both singles draws for the first time since 1973.

“I think Jo has done — it’s not just about this tournament, but over the last 18 months, two years, has done great,” Murray said. “It’s important to have various different role models in the sport, players competing for the biggest events. I do think it makes a difference to the interest in the sport, because a lot of people who follow tennis in this country won’t enjoy watching me play. It’s true, you know.”

Murray will next face American Sam Querrey after the 24th-seeded American defeated Kevin Anderson of South Africa 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (11), 6-3.

The 35-year-old Federer has won 18 Grand Slam titles and one more at Wimbledon will give him a record eighth championship at the All England Club. He advances to his 50th Grand Slam quarterfinal, another best in the Open Era.

“I didn’t expect it go to that easy,” said Federer, the Australian Open champion in January. “It wasn’t as easy maybe as it looks like.

“He gave me some opportunities and I was happy to take them. But most important was to focus on my game and hope he would feel the pressure. I thought it was an excellent match for me. Everyone is in the running still so it’s going to be tough to win this. You need a bit of luck, and to feel great. The good news is I feel good and I’m not trying to heal anything.”

Querrey had four match points in the fourth-set tiebreak, but Anderson saved all of them to force a decider.

Querrey bounced back in the fifth set, breaking Anderson to lead 4-2 and seeing another match point at 5-2. Anderson again erased the match point, but Querrey converted his sixth opportunity to advance after three hours, 11 minutes.

“I told myself to try to be aggressive,” Querrey said. “On the last game I had a little bit of the house money since I was returning first and I kind of had a game to play with. … I think that helped.”

Querrey finished with 31 aces and won 82 percent of his first-serve points (93 of 113). He fell to 2016 finalist Milos Raonic in last year’s quarterfinals but will look to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time against Murray, who leads their head-to-head series 7-1, including a straight-sets win earlier this year at the Australian Open.

Seventh-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia reached the quarterfinals for the fourth straight year, dominating No. 18 seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

Cilic, who won the U.S. Open in 2014, has never before made the semifinals at the All England Club. He will next face Muller.

Tomas Berdych, the 11th seed from the Czech Republic, advanced to the quarterfinals for the second year in a row after beating eighth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Berdych will next face either three-time champion and No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia or Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the quarterfinals.

Raonic, the No. 6 seed, is back into the quarterfinals a year after he lost in the final to Murray. The Canadian defeated 10th-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.