Mario Ancic answered the call of tennis statisticians when he came from two sets down to beat Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11 on Monday to set up a Wimbledon quarter-final against champion Roger Federer.
The Croat was the last man to beat Federer on grass, in a first round match at Wimbledon in 2002, since when the Swiss has picked up a modern-era record-equalling five successive titles.
The 24-year-old Ancic, a semi-finalist in 2004, has now reached the quarter-finals three times but missed the tournament last year and was out for nearly six months with glandular fever.
The unseeded Ancic looked down and out when Verdasco, the number 22 seed, led two sets to one and 4-1 in the fourth, only to fight his way back into a match that lasted three hours and 48 minutes on Court 11.
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Ancic, who had beaten Verdasco's fifth-seeded compatriot David Ferrer in the previous round, settled the match after breaking his opponent in the 13th game of the deciding set.
Verdasco, 40-0 down on Ancic's serve, fended off two match points before the Croat won with an ace.
NEAR FAULTLESS
Verdasco played near faultless tennis in the first two sets, finding the corners consistently and hitting some fierce passing shots that had the Croat reeling.
The Spaniard set up his first break points in the fourth game with a brilliant lob and won the second when Ancic hit a cross court drive wide.
Verdasco also set himself up to take the second set with two break points in the third game. Ancic saved the first with an ace but was wide with the second.
Ancic, surprised by a player he beat in two sets at Queen's in the build-up to Wimbledon, struggled for consistency at first but finally earned his first break points in the sixth game of the third set, Verdasco hitting a return wide on the first.
Verdasco looked to have made an all-important breakthrough when a brilliant lob put him 40-love up on Ancic's serve in the fourth game of the fourth set, taking a 4-1 lead with a passing shot down the line on the first break point.
Ancic, however, raised his game to break Verdasco in the left-handed Spaniard's next two service games before going on to level the match with an ace.
The gruelling fifth set went with serve until the 13th game when Ancic broke the Spaniard, who hit the break point long.
Verdasco broke right back and the next break point, which Ancic won to go 12-11 ahead, proved decisive. The Spaniard saved the first two of three match points before succumbing to an ace.
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