Nadal crashes out of Wimbledon after shock defeat

Rafael Nadal crashed to his worst Grand Slam defeat in seven years Thursday when Czech journeyman Lukas Rosol, the world No. 100, pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Wimbledon history. Rosol, whose previous visits to Wimbledon had ended in five successive first round losses in qualifying, stunned the 2008 and 2010 champion, and 11-time Grand Slam title winner Nadal, 6-7 (9/11), 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. He will face German 27th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber for a place in the last 16. Andy Murray cut giant Croat Ivo Karlovic down to size as the world No. 4 reached the Wimbledon third round with a 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) victory Thursday. Murray had to withstand a barrage of booming serves from Karlovic, who at 6ft 10in is the tallest man on the ATP Tour, but the gritty display of the British No. 1 was rewarded with victory in three hours and eight minutes. The Scot will play Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov or Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus for a place in the last 16. “Winning is all that is important when you play a guy with his style. It’s so challenging to get into a rhythm,” Murray said. “Tie-breaks are a bit of a lottery with someone like him and you just have to get a racquet on his serves and hope for the best. You can’t really prepare for it because so few guys play like him. But I actually thought I returned well today. I tried to make him play as many balls as possible.” Karlovic had hammered 305 aces in his 21 previous matches in 2012 and once sent down a serve clocked at a whopping 156mph. For a while he kept up that kind of brutal assault against Murray, firing down 17 more aces on Center Court, but the world No. 59 eventually ran out of steam. Despite having to shoulder the burden of being the only contender to end Britain’s 76-year wait for a male singles champion, Murray relishes his two weeks under the spotlight at Wimbledon, where he has lost in the semi-finals for the last three years. The 25-year-old, beaten in his three Grand Slam finals, had never failed to reach the last 32 on his previous six Wimbledon appearances and he recovered from dropping serve in the opening game of the match to take the first set. It was harder work in the second set as Karlovic ground his way into a tiebreak which the Croatian won by a slender margin. But Murray, who had won all three of his previous meetings with Karlovic, refused to be muscled out of his stride and broke twice to take the third set at a canter. Murray’s extra class finally proved the difference as he cleverly forced Karlovic into uncomfortable positions, bringing enough errors from the Croat to close out the win.