Schuettler seals epic victory

10:44pm Thursday 3rd July 2008

Rainer Schuettler held his nerve to progress into a Wimbledon semi-final against Rafael Nadal thanks to an epic victory over Arnaud Clement of France.

Resuming at 1-1 after bad light brought a premature halt to proceedings on Wednesday, the veteran pair were straight back into the groove on Thursday where Clement incredibly saved six successive set points after falling 6-0 down in the third-set tie-breaker - before losing it with a double fault, but he came back to claim the fourth.

With a further two rain breaks delaying things even further, Schuettler finally claimed the fifth set at the third attempt to book a date with second seed Nadal with a 6-3 5-7 7-6 (8/6) 6-7 (7-9) 8-6 win in five hours and 12 minutes.

Clement looked the more lively at the start of the day and broke in game four. A net-cord deflection fell the Frenchman's way for a 3-1 advantage, but the world number 94 hit back three games later thanks to a wayward Clement passing shot. And though neither player looked secure on serve, both managed to make it through unscathed to a third-set tie-breaker.

Schuettler raced into a 6-0 lead, but Clement began his fightback with a simple overhead, before a couple of backhand winners and a Schuettler error helped him claim back the other two mini-breaks.

The Frenchman double faulted, however, and Schuettler produced an ace to take the breaker 8-6. The second set too went to a breaker, though this was a more conventional affair - Clement broke for 5-3 and, though Schuettler got back on terms, the Frenchman eventually triumphed 9-7.

After a pair of early breaks in the fifth, Schuettler was on the verge of levelling at 2-2 when rain forced a brief hiatus in the action. That quickly became 4-4 when play resumed, before a stunning backhand winner gave Clement match point at 5-4, but Schuettler swatted a forehand down the line to save - and ultimately hold for 5-5.

Schuettler broke in game 11 when the ball flew of the frame of Clement's racquet, but another flashing winner made it 6-6.

With another rain cloud moving ominously towards the All England club, a double fault from Clement gave his opponent two break points. As the rain started to fall Clement saved both to take the game to deuce - before the heavens opened and the players were forced off once more.

This time they were off court for a more extended period and it seemed to work against Clement, who fired into the net to hand Schuettler the decisive break within seconds of the resumption, and though Clement saved two match points, the German finally produced a big serve to seal victory.

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