Arguably the best annual day of tennis will take place on Monday, when all 32 remaining singles players–men and women–will be in action. Among those on the schedule are Rafael Nadal, Gilles Muller, Marin Cilic, and Roberto Bautista Agut.
(4) Rafael Nadal vs. (16) Gilles Muller
Nadal and Muller will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Monday. The head-to-head series stands at 4-1 in favor of Nadal, but his lone loss to Muller has come at none other than the All-England Club. That is where the left-handed Luxembourgian upset the Spaniard 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 during second-round action in 2005, not long after Nadal had captured his first of now 10 French Open titles. Since then, however, Nadal has won three in a row against Muller–including a measure of 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 6-0 revenge at Wimbledon in 2011. The two veterans most recently faced each other at the 2016 Indian Wells Masters, with Nadal getting the job done 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
This, of course, is not the same Nadal whom Muller toppled in 2005. The 15-time Grand Slam champion is now a two-time Wimbledon winner, having triumphed at the AELTC in 2008 and 2010. Although Nadal has struggled on grass in recent seasons, he is armed with a clean bill of health this time around and is coming off a dominant performance at Roland Garros. So far this fortnight he has defeated John Millman, Donald Young, and Karen Khachanov without dropping a set. Muller punched his ticket to the second week by beating Marton Fucsovics, Lukas Rosol (9-7 in the fifth), and Aljaz Bedene. The world No. 26 is a stellar 26-12 this season with the first two titles of his career–including on the grass courts of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Muller may be a particularly dangerous opponent on this surface, but Nadal’s current form is such that the players who have a legitimate shot to beat him at Wimbledon this year can be counted on one hand. And that list should not include anyone other than Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Marin Cilic.
Pick: Nadal in 4
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(18) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (7) Marin Cilic
Cilic already registers at a respectable 11th in the race to the World Tour Finals and his favorite time of year–Wimbledon through the U.S. Open–is just now beginning. The 2014 U.S. Open champion and current Cincinnati title holder has built on a strong clay-court swing with a semifinal showing in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, a runner-up performance at Queen’s Club, and a trio of straight-set victories at the All-England Club (over Philipp Kohlschreiber, Florian Mayer, and Steve Johnson).
Up next for Cilic on Monday is a fourth career showdown against Bautista Agut, who trails the head-to-head series 2-1 but got the best of their most recent encounter via a 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-5 decision at the 2016 Australian Open. The Spaniard, who comes in 13 spots behind Cilic at No. 19 in the world, earned a place in the last 16 by taking out Andreas Haider-Maurer, Peter Gojowyczk, and Kei Nishikori. Bautista Agut is an outstanding 29-11 in 2017, but as usual he has struggled against upper-echelon opponents. Cilic certainly qualifies as such right now–especially on grass.
Pick: Cilic in 3
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congrats to rafa & muller for a big drama show. muller was a warrior today
Rafa played badly in the first 2 sets, especially the 2nd set, otherwise the result would have been different.
muller played bad in third and 4th set so whats your point?
rafa is all class….
Cilic or Murray to win the final now.
Muller deserves this
Yep 100%
Ok congrats to Benny, you got this right!
But, I’m truly disappointed with the way Rafa returns serves, not varying his court position at all!
I think I get the other matches right, the winners but not the score though.
I doubt Muller has anything left for Cilic! Poor soul!
yep, looking like he’ll be a two time victim of the rafa curse
Agreed!! So stubborn on the return position!! Its just foes my head in!! At least try something different in one service game. So frustrating!
Rafa did not take his chances, valiant effort but Muller deserved this one. But he’ll lose to cilic
okay.FAAAAAKKKKKKKKK!
I am gutted. Rafa should have taken this 🙁
Wimbledon is cursed for him now :/ Well done to Muller for playing awesome but Rafa was not good. He fought hard but nerves got the better of him.
I think the damage to his confidence done by all the losses to Rosols and Browns also played on his mind.
Reckon he has forgotten what it’s like to be in the last stages at Wimby.
Rafa has himself to blame TBH; he came out edgy, nervous, played like crap to lose serve pathetically! I know Muller was serving unbelievable and credit to him, but Rafa not holding serve when it mattered in the second set was the cause of all evil imo.
He got to fight so hard to win the next two sets; Muller probably taking a breather and then came back strong in the fifth whilst Rafa looked the more exhausted one despite being younger.
Anyway, even if Rafa wins this match, he’ll have nothing left in the QF and will most likely lose meekly in straight sets to Cilic.
With this loss, I think I’ll probably write off Rafa from winning any Wimbledon title from now on; it’s not just because of the big servers/big hitters that he lost; it’s basically he himself that’s the root of the problem.
He has a good enough serve, clutch enough too, the other parts of his game are fine too; it’s his pannicky nature that’s the problem. His ROS left very much to be desired; he refused to change his return positions, or tried something different when all night long, his returns were not working well! He had so many BP chances but let them slipped away! Yes, Muller served well to save some of them but there were sins that were due to Rafa’s poor play! It’s as if Rafa was so pannicky that he couldn’t think of a way out, but just play conservatively and hope for Muller to miss.
Yeah, we should be gutted, for he had his chances but blew so many of them away!
I now really feels that Cilic has a great great chance to reach the final and even winning it! Vamos Cilic, my second fav player!
I do think the losses took a toll on Rafa. If he could have won then it would have helped him erase those demons. He needed to wins match like this to get over the hump.
I am gutted for him. Not in the mood to congratulate his opponent.
I agree with you, Lucky- Cilic has a great shot now.
77 winners, 17 UE from Rafa, 23 acesm 60% second serve pts won and yet he loses.
The BP conversion, 2/16 is obviously the stat that let him down. He had his chances aplenty.
Exactly right, VR. On the whole, it was a high quality match when the loser can post a stat line like that.
Muller played so smart, didnt waste any energy, so mentaly tough. Historical match, win against 100% healty Nadal in absolutely top form.
Congrats to Muller, and he will promptly lose in the next match………..
Nadal would struggle next round as well. Also he was pumping himself with adrenaline very often and drained himself even more. Muller instead was cool as a freezer.
If you have a serve like Muller’s, you’ll also be cool as a freezer, esp when playing on grass!
rafa had 2 games with multiple break points in the last set. shoudl have taken one of them…some were makeable…
That’s what bothers me. Rafa had those break points. I don’t like seeing Rafa lose matches that way. He lost the AO final because he was broken after being up a break.
This is just tough to see. Wimbledon seems done for Rafa. He will bump up against some hot big server and that’s it. He didn’t play his best. But he did fight.
I don’t think either of them had a chance against Cilic. But I wanted to see Rafa get to the quarterfinals at least.
I glad that I kept my expectations in check for Wimbledon.
well it does show partly how hard it is to make a long run from clay to grass. i am very very happy at how much rafa has improved this year and am staying iwth that feelign. a while back many of us feared he would lnever win another slam or get close to number one. he has 15 slams and is close to number one. uso is within his reach imo.
i dont know where moya was this tourney…i feel a lot better when he is around…
roll on uso. that’s better for rafa….
Oh well…credit to Muller for keep his composure and showed his mental strength for 5 hours straight!…not easy to that against rafa…
As for Rafa..he said yesterday,if he keep his level like in the 1st week,he might have a chance to win but his level drop today..so yeah…onto NA HC now rafa!!
Cilic will have an easy time of it with Muller.
I am proud of Rafa for fighting, but he had chances.
Am so proud of Gilles muller, what a match, what a player, his just amazzzzzing!
But he’ll lose his next match, too bad! I doubt he has anything left to fight against the servebot i.e. Cilic!
I was afraid of Muller the minute I saw the draw…still, I am heartbroken Rafa lost this match…I did not see the fifth set but followed the live score and each point…Rafa failed to take his chances, made errors on key points…I never doubted Muller could win long matches… still he may retire against Cilic, probably win’t be able to move…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-4682474/Rafael-Nadal-bumps-head-against-Wimbledon-door-frame.html
This is so embarrassing…Karlovic would die there
Yep, quite embarrassing, I don’t know why he’s jumping at that time, crazy! I wonder whether his head would get swollen after that! Next time better look up to the ceiling first and see how high or low it is before jumping! Crazy!
I have heard from players that its quite intimidating when they see, hear or feel his intense warm up.
This time Muller heard some new move and even broke “dont look” rule 😀
R. Nadal did his best but fell short, to all you rafa fans don’t get discouraged okay!
R. Nadal can’t win it all, his played spectacularly throughout this year, hopefully for you guys he will win one more trophy b4 the year ends.
Which title do you guy’s think he has a real chance of winning b4 the end of the season?
Too soon to talk about that! That guy, he needs time to mend his broken heart first!
I think Rafa should just skip Wimbledon from now on, he can’t cope with the change of surface if he’s going deep or winning the FO. He’s 31, next year he’s 32, no longer the 22/23 year old boy who was able to win the channel slams; just forget about Wimbledon!