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Gilles Muller

LONDON. — Rafael Nadal’s hopes of winning a third Wimbledon title are over for another year after an epic five-set defeat by 16th seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg last night.

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.

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

Muller (34) will play Croatia’s seventh seed Marin Cilic in the last eight.

“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 percent.”

Even world number two Nadal’s trademark competitiveness could not see off Muller in a gripping final set which took two and a quarter hours — more than half an hour longer than Roger Federer’s win over Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov.

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

Both Nadal and Muller received a standing ovation and rapturous applause after the longest — and arguably finest — match of this year’s tournament.

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.

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.

Nadal (31) was considered one of the favourites to win the men’s title after an excellent year in which he has reached the Australian Open final, losing to Roger Federer, and earned a record 10th triumph at Roland Garros.

The left-hander’s success had stalled in recent years because of wrist problems, dropping as low as 10th in the world and not reaching a Slam final in almost three years before Melbourne in January.

He has looked close to his imperious best over the past few months, climbing back up to second in the rankings as a result.

However, this defeat means he has not reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals since losing in the 2011 final.

Nadal had not dropped a set in his opening three matches in SW19, but Muller represented a much tougher challenge than his previous opponents. — BBCSport.