Rafael Nadal needed 20 minutes and five match points on Wednesday 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 was] the toughest match maybe in my career,” Nadal told a news conference.
Nadal saved a break point at 5-5 and then held his serve. The players looked up in disbelief during the changeover when the familar 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 had 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.
The Spaniard will face Russian 14th seed Mikhail Youzhny in the fourth round. – Reuters