Schüttler staggers into Nadal's sights after epic win

Nobody who faces Rafael Nadal these days needs any softening up before the Spaniard is let loose to do his worst. But in an epic quarter-final that concluded here last night, Rainer Sch_ttler and Arnaud Cl_ment beat the living daylights out of each other, and surely out of their stamina reserves as well before Germany's Sch_ttler emerged a five-set winner. He faces Nadal in the semis this afternoon. Bad light had halted their match on Wednesday at one set apiece. By the time they trudged off court yesterday, they had traded multiple long rallies and umpteen breaks of serve in three more marathon sets. The final score read 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-7, 8-6. The duration of the match, at five hours and 12 minutes, made it the joint second-longest in the history of the singles at the All England Club. The longest was Greg Holmes' victory... [read full story]