Novak Djokovic will contest his 23rd consecutive grand slam quarter-final after easing past Luxembourg journeyman Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 at the Australian Open on Monday.
Although he had beaten Nadal 12 years ago at Wimbledon, few gave Luxembourg's Muller a chance on Monday against the fourth seed and French Open champion. 'This is definitely the biggest victory since then, since I came back, especially at that stage of a grand slam, playing one of the guys who is dominating the tennis this year again. Definitely the biggest win'
'Of course I feel that I can beat Rafa. He is looking good and injury free. But if I didn't think I could win I would not bother going out on the court'
Four-times champion Roger Federer weathered a tough battle against Luxembourg qualifier Gilles Muller to book his place in the US Open semi-finals with a 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 win on Thursday.
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea breezed into the pre-quarter-finals of the men's doubles at the Australian Open, beating Lukas Dlouhy and Jiri Vesely, on Friday.
Here's a look at Nadal's other early exits from the tournament:
The 33-year-old left-hander from Luxembourg had lost all five of his previous tour finals but prevailed at the sixth attempt in the Australian Open warm-up event at the Olympic Tennis Centre.
He paid for losing the first two sets 6-3 6-4 and while he hit back impressively to win the next two by the same margin, he was unable to complete what would have been only his fourth recovery from two sets down. 'I played well for moments, but I was a lot of times fighting against the score, too many times in the fifth'
Mahesh Bhupathi returned to Grand Slam action with a first-round win at the Australian Open but Leander Paes' bid fell flat at the first hurdle, in Melbourne, on Wednesday.
Defending champion Andy Murray eased into the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the 10th successive year with a 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Benoit Paire on Monday.
So by now we all know what has transpired at Court No 1 in Wimbledon on Monday.
Defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka survived some anxious against Gilles Muller before proceeding into the men's singles semi-finals at the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament.
Inspired Cilic vs 'tired' underdog Muller
World No 1 Novak Djokovic's had to take a medical timeout before completing a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 dominating win over Luxembourg's Gilles Muller at Roland Garros on Thursday.
Second seed Novak Djokovic eased into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a routine 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-4 win over France's Adrian Mannarino on Tuesday.
Andy Murray eased past Fernando Verdasco at the Aegon Championships on Thursday but an expected quarter-final showdown with the man who beat him at Wimbledon last year was scuppered by Luxembourg left-hander Gilles Muller.
Fifth seed Karl Beck of Slovakia capped a wonderful week scoring a close three set win over seventh seed Gilles Muller of Luxemburg to lift the $1,25,000 Tashkent Challenger, an ATP Challenger series event being played at the Olympic tennis Stadium on Sunday.
Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova stormed into the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open 2017 tennis tournament with a straight-set win over their opponents in the women's doubles at Indian Wells.
Roger Federer began his pursuit for a sixth Swiss Indoors Basel title with an explosive 47-minute 6-2, 6-1 victory over Gilles Muller on Wednesday after Rafael Nadal reached the quarter-final with a 6-1, 6-1 win against Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
The Indo-Pak pair beat Michel Kratochvil and Gilles Muller 7-6 (8), 6-3 to win the Segovia Challenger.
'Just thanks for the support. I tried. I'm sorry for the crowd that were supporting me, but it was great to feel all their support'
Bopanna is back with his regular partner Pablo Cuevas for this tournament and they face Serbian team of Djokovic and Victor Troicki.
Milos Raonic and John Isner were knocked out of the Valencia Open by lower-ranked opponents on Wednesday, denting their chances of clinching one of two remaining berths at next month's World Tour finals in London.
Former world number one Serena Williams suffered an injury scare less than two weeks ahead of the Australian Open on Wednesday when the American was forced out of the Brisbane International with a badly twisted ankle.
Continuing their good run, Somdev Devvarman and Treat Conrad Huey moved to the semi-finals of the ATP Farmer's Classic with a comfortable straight sets win over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and Briton Jamie Murray.
India's Somdev Devvarman and his Filipino doubles partnerTreat Conrad Huey shocked top seeded Brazilian pair of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in straight sets to advance to the doubles quarter-finals of the ATP Farmer's Classic in Los Angeles, USA.
The mercury was rising at Wimbledon on Saturday as the serial trophy hunters gathered in the last 16 with defending champions Rafa Nadal, Serena Williams and Roger Federer leading the charge.
Malisse, coming back from a wrist injury, took off from where he had left last year to beat Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Chennai Open at the SDAT stadium, Nungambakkam on Monday.
Leander Paes and Scott Lipksy faced stiff resistance from Steve Darcis and Gilles Muller before sealing a quarter-final berth at the ATP 250 Ricoh Open on Monday.
PHOTOS from day seven of the Wimbledon championships at the All England Lawn Tennis in London on Wednesday
Andy Roddick scored a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Swiss qualifier Michael Lammer
Mahesh Bhupathi and Justin Gimelstob edged out Robby Ginepri and Gilles Muller in the first round of the Thailand Open
Britain number one Andy Murray has overtaken 14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal to claim the third spot in the ATP world rankings.
American Robby Ginepri moved easily into the Japan Open quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Luxemburg's Gilles Muller on Thursday.
Andre Agassi has pulled out of this week's Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington to preserve energy for the U.S. Open.
The 35-year-old American beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the final of the Los Angeles Open.
Petra Kvitova completed her preparations for an assault on a third Grand Slam title in triumphant style on Friday by downing fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova 7-6, 7-6 to win the Sydney International title.
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