b>Wimbledon: Rainer Schuettler reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time on Thursday, beating Arnaud Clement 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7), 8-6 in a match that took two days to complete.
Clement missed a match point and Schuettler wasted two before the German player won the quarter-final match that started on Wednesday but was suspended because of darkness at one set apiece.
Both men previously reached the Australian Open final for their best career result in a Grand Slam tournament. Clement lost to Andre Agassi in 2001 and Schuettler lost to the same American two years later.
But five hours, 12 minutes of play over two days and a pair of rain delays on Thursday were hardly the best preparation for Schuettler's attempt to match that by reaching the Wimbledon final.
His victory only set up a semi-final meeting with two-time runner-up Rafael Nadal, who advanced on Wednesday by beating 12th-seeded Andy Murray so convincingly that the Spaniard didn't even have to face a break point.
"He has an advantage anyway. He's pretty fit," Schuettler said. "But I don't really care. I also work hard. I'm physically fit.
"I will get a massage later on and I try to go, if possible, to sleep early, that I have enough hours of sleep, and tomorrow I will be fine."
Schuettler will do well not to have nightmares about his recent meetings with the second-ranked Nadal.
Since beating him in their first match in 2004, Schuettler has lost three straight without taking a set.
"I'm so far away right now from that match," Schuettler said. "Today I was out of the tournament already, then I won it. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow."
Schuettler, who seemed to be trading as many errors as winners with Clement, took the third set when they resumed on Thursday, but only after Clement clawed back in a tiebreaker from 6-0 down to 6-6.
Clement appeared to be on a roll but his serve again faltered under pressure as he double-faulted and Schuettler responded with an ace to win the set.
The first rain delay of the day then stopped play for 28 minutes in the final set with Schuettler serving at 1-2 and 40-0.
Clement forced his match point at 5-4 in the final set by returning a forehand of his own down the line and past his stunned opponent.
Schuettler saved the point with forehand winner and went on to hold the game before the pair traded breaks in the next two games.
"You have a chance on this match point, and you finally lost the match ... it's just a little bit hard for the moment," Clement said.
The second rain delay came with loud claps of thunder with the pair at 6-6 and Clement serving at deuce after saving two break points.
The pair were back on after more than an hour and Schuettler immediately hit a backhand winner before Clement backhanded into the net to lose serve and let the German serve out the match.
"It wasn't Wimbledon for the 10 first days. We didn't have a rain delay, so we had two today," Clement said. "It's a little bit special when it's 6-all, 40-all."
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