Nadal wins three-day marathon
LONDON: Rafael Nadal needed 20 minutes and five match points yesterday finally to dispose of Robin Soderling 6-4 6-4 6-7 4-6 7-5 in a rain-hit Wimbledon third round match that spanned three days.
The players resumed at 4-4 in the final set in a match that started on Monday and was hit by five rain breaks, with only 20 minutes of play possible on Tuesday. It had been due to start on Saturday but they managed only a warm-up before a downpour.
"(It was) the toughest match maybe in my career," Nadal told a news conference.
"I have been here for maybe five years, I don't remember anything like this."
Nadal saved a break point at 5-5 and then held his serve. The players looked up in disbelief during the changeover when the familiar drizzle started falling but the umpire told them: "Let's play, it's stopping".
The world number two seemed to want to prolong the agony for himself, squandering four match points before forcing Soderling to hit a shot long to claim the match.
French Open champion Nadal had already earned match point on Monday in the third set tiebreak, having smoothly taken the first two sets by varying his shots and showing some neat touches at the net.
But the missed match point allowed world number 28 Soderling to get back into the match and he kept up the pressure in the fourth set, using his big serve and matching Nadal, whose timing had deserted him, in the rallies.
Soderling admitted he had not served as well yesterday and was disappointed not to have capitalised on the breakpoint in the 11th game.
"Today I didn't put as many first serves in as I needed to," the Swede said. "But still I had my chances. I had a breakpoint. But he played well. All credit to him."
The Spaniard will face Russian 14th seed Mikhail Youzhny in the fourth round and he said he felt upbeat going into the match having survived this one.
"It's going to be very tough match for me," he said. "But I feel confident after this win. But for sure I am a little bit tired today."
Earlier yesterday, American number three seed Andy Roddick celebrated US Independence Day in style, overpowering Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2 7-5 7-6 to take his appointed place in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Roddick, twice runner-up at Wimbledon to Roger Federer, took two days to round off his match as the players had to scuttle on and off a rain-hit Centre Court.
"There is no question it is tough," the former world number one said of the constantly interrupted matches.
Endless waiting in the locker room can get demoralizing. "Boredom takes over. We all start getting a little loopy," he said.
Agencies
(China Daily 07/05/2007 page24)
