Nadal wins clash of the needle

Rafael Nadal can rarely have shed more buckets of sweat or whiled away more pointless hours.

He finally progressed to the Wimbledon fourth round after beating Sweden’s Robin Soderling 6-4 6-4 6-7 4-6 7-5 in an on-off, stop-start encounter which spanned five days and which he described as the toughest match of his career.