Tennis - Del Potro scraps past Simon to set up Nadal clash
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2018. Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro celebrates winning his the fourth round match against France's Gilles Simon. REUTERS/Toby Melville
LONDON (Reuters) - Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro returned to see off Frenchman Gilles Simon on Tuesday and reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the second time, but it was desperately hard work.
The fifth seed had led by two sets on Monday but Simon grabbed the third set before fading light ended play.
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2018. Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro celebrates winning his the fourth round match against France's Gilles Simon. REUTERS/Toby Melville
With world number one Rafael Nadal waiting for the winner, Tuesday's fourth set, played in much cooler conditions than the first three the day before, turned into a mini-epic before Del Potro eventually prevailed 7-6(1) 7-6(5) 5-7 7-6(5).
Del Potro looked flat as he was broken to trail 3-1 but he clawed his way back to lead 5-4 with his serve to come.
He looked on the brink of victory when he moved 40-15 ahead but both match points vanished, the second with a double-fault.
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2018. Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro celebrates winning his the fourth round match against France's Gilles Simon. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Simon failed to convert a break point, then a third match point for Del Potro ended with him netting a forehand.
The 33-year-old Simon saved a fourth match point when he threw the kitchen sink at a forehand return and the world number 53 eventually took his fourth break point to level at 5-5.
The next two games went with serve and the match was well into its fifth hour when the tiebreak began.
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2018. Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro in action during the fourth round match against France's Gilles Simon. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Del Potro trailed 1-3 but at 5-5 he fired down a swinging ace to reach match point number five and this time Simon cracked, netting a backhand to the relief of the Argetine who roared his approval.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2018. Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro in action during the fourth round match against France's Gilles Simon. REUTERS/Toby MelvilleTennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2018. Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro celebrates winning his the fourth round match against France's Gilles Simon. REUTERS/Toby MelvilleTennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2018. France's Gilles Simon waves after loosing his fourth round match against Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro. REUTERS/Toby MelvilleTennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2018. France's Gilles Simon reacts during the fourth round match against Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro. REUTERS/Toby Melville
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