WIMBLEDON, England — The Grand Slam looked over for Rafael Nadal on Wednesday at Wimbledon, but he kept the quest alive by fighting through an abdominal injury and coming back to beat the rising American star Taylor Fritz, 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-4).
A thriller of a quarterfinal, it lasted 4 hours 21 minutes and might have gone quite a bit longer if not for the new rule at Wimbledon this year that requires a first-to-10-point tiebreaker to be played at 6-6 in the fifth set.
Fritz, a big-serving 24-year-old Californian in the midst of a breakthrough season, was on the verge of the most significant win of his career.