News / Sports
Rafael Nadal Advances after Marathon Match at Wimbledon
It may have taken four days to complete but Rafael Nadal didn’t seem to have any complaints after his sixth match point proved to be the answer in his 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(7), 4-6, 7-5 victory over Robin Soderling at the All England Club.
The marathon match began on Saturday but never got past the warmup stage due to rain. There were no matches scheduled at the All England Club the following day, keeping with the tradition of taking the middle Sunday off at Wimbledon. Nadal and Soderling finally began their match on Monday and the Spaniard had an opportunity to end the third-round contest after holding match point in the third set tiebreaker but couldn’t put Soderling away.
Soderling eventually won the third set and then took the fourth to even the match at two sets apiece. Nadal was able to take a 2-0 lead in the fifth set before play was suspended for the day. Rain halted play yet again on Tuesday after just 20 minutes of play. When both players took the court on Wednesday the fifth set was deadlocked 4-4.
Nadal worked his way to a 6-5 advantage and had four match points denied before Soderling sent a backhand long and the match was finally over.
