Rafael Nadal beats Gilles Muller to force his way to the fourth round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Defending champion, Rafael Nadal of Spain, continued his clean run at the Wimbledon Championships, defeating the unseeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the third round on Saturday.
Playing at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England, the world number one made it into the pre-quarter-final stage of the third Grand Slam tournament of the running year after defeating Muller
in straight sets 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 6-0.
It took two hours and twenty four minutes for Nadal before taking down the resilient competitor in the third set of the match. Muller gave some real tough time to the top seed in the opening two sets before he was absolutely crushed
in the third set to end his voyage at Wimbledon. Nadal bagged the first two sets in tie breaker rounds but proved deadly in the third set, breaking the Luxembourger rival in each of his serve game.
The in-form Spaniard has already faced Muller on the same venue way back in 2005, when the Luxembourger stood victorious against him at 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the round of 64. Nadal finally got his revenge on Saturday afternoon,
getting a 2-1 lead in his all-time head-to-head series against Muller.
92nd ranked Muller played far better game than his world ranking would suggest, and fired 17 thudding aces in the contest while delivering 73 per cent of his first serve on target. Nadal followed him with 7 aces on 71
per cent first serve but his knack of bagging points on critical occasions proved the deciding factor in the contest.
No serve breaks were witnessed in the opening two sets of the matchup, depicting the intense tennis being played between the world number one and the unseeded Muller. The first two sets took almost two hours to conclude, with Nadal
winning tie breaker rounds in both sets to get 2-0 in the contest.
More intense tennis was anticipated in the third set as well but Nadal got his true form by then and gave no chance to Muller to bounce back in the game. The top seed registered three consecutive break points, breaking the opponent’s
serve in every single game and rocketing away to victory at 6-0, taking just 31 minutes to wrap up the third set.
Up next for Nadal in the fourth round is the crafty Argentine, Juan Martin Del Potro, who is seeded 24 in the competition. Del Potro took down the 15th seed Gilles Simon of France in straight sets 7-6(8), 7-6(5), 7-5,
after an enthralling third round contest.
Tags: