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Schuettler through after marathon

Rainer Schuettler of Germany returns to Arnaud Clement of France during their men’s singles quarter-final match at Wimbledon in London on Thursday. PHOTO: AP

Germany’s Rainer Schuettler defeated Frenchman Arnaud Clement on Thursday to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in a tie that equaled the record for the second longest match in All England Club history.

The 32-year-old, the oldest man left in the tournament, won 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (7/9), 8-6 and now faces Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal for a place in tomorrow’s final.

The match, which started on Wednesday evening, took 5 hours, 12 minutes to complete, tying the record set in 1969 when Pancho Gonzalez beat Charlie Pasarell in the famous 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9 first round clash.

Schuettler joins Boris Becker and Michael Stich as the only German men to reach the semi-finals here and the first since Stich in 1997.

Despite his grueling encounter with Clement, in which he saved a match point, Schuettler said he will be ready to tackle Nadal in the semi-finals.

“He has the advantage because he’s incredibly fit. But I don’t care. I work hard and am also very fit. So I will get a massage and get to bed early so I’ll be fresh for the match,” said Schuettler, who has lost three times in four meetings with the French Open champion. “I have nothing to lose and I just have to make sure that I make it as hard as possible for him.”

Schuettler, whose previous best Grand Slam performance was reaching the final of the 2003 Australian Open, insisted he was not too exhausted by his quarter-final efforts.

“We played three hours today, and yesterday two,” he said. “But when you play other tournaments, you play on hard court or clay court, it’s normal. Obviously he has an advantage, but I will be okay. I’m not so tired.”

Schuettler’s unexpected run to the last four has also meant he has had to cancel plans to play in a Challenger event in Cordoba as well as a short vacation in Switzerland.

The German, a former world No. 5 who is now at No. 94 in the rankings, put out American ninth seed James Blake in the second round and had never got beyond the fourth round in his nine previous visits to the All England Club.

But he made the most of the huge opportunity which presented itself when fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Roddick, the sixth seed, were both knocked out early in his part of the draw.

Clement had wasted a match point in the 10th game of the final set, before Schuettler went on to claim victory.
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