Rafael Nadal beaten in epic five-setter by Muller at Wimbledon

Rafael Nadal was sensationally knocked out of Wimbledon in the fourth round by veteran Gilles Muller in an epic five-set thriller that lasted just short of five hours on Monday.

Muller won 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 as he and the two-time champion shared 53 aces, scintillating shots and no lack of commitment. Muller, 34, will now play Croatia’s seventh seed Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals.

On a day of frenetic action, Nadal’s defeat was the only upset among the men, while in the women’s draw the top seed and world No 1 lost.

Seven times men’s champion Roger Federer beat Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to move into his 15th Wimbledon quarter-final.

Earlier, Kevin Anderson took the older South African tennis fan back to the 1980s as he duelled a five-set encounter in a battle of big serve-and-volleyers.

It was in 1985 that Kevin Curren served his way into the Wimbledon men’s singles final, where he lost to a teenage Boris Becker, who was destined to become one of the great Wimbledon champions.

However, Anderson failed to reach the quarter-finals, after losing a five-set thriller to the American Sam Querrey, who eliminated Novak Djokovic in the third round last year. Both Anderson and Querrey traded aces and were dominant on their serves and it was always going to be a case of the player being able to break his opponent’s serve would go on to win the match.

Querrey, the 24th seed, beat the unseeded Anderson 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-7 (11-13), 6-3. He faces world No 1 Andy Murray, the defending champion, in Wednesday’s last eight.

Murray continued his smooth ride through the draw with a straight sets win over Frenchman Benoit Paire 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court.

And the No 6 women’s seed, Johanna Konta, ensured the Brits had plenty to cheer about as she beat France’s Caroline Garcia 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-4 on Court One to became the first British woman to reach the last eight since 1984.

Also among the women, top seed Kerber will lose her world No 1 ranking after being beaten by Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round.

Muguruza, the 14th seed, and a runner-up in 2015, won 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and she will play Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the quarter-finals.