London: The curse of beating Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon has struck again.
Dustin Brown, the German qualifier with the dreadlocks who surprisingly beat the two-time Wimbledon champion in the second round on Centre Court, lost Saturday in his very next match.
He is the fourth man in a row to eliminate Nadal early at the All England Club and then fail to advance in the next round. All four were ranked outside the top 100 in the world.
"Obviously having the pleasure and being able to play on Centre Court and then to play a match like that (on Thursday), doesn't make a difference if I lost today or not, no one will ever be able to take that away from me," said Brown, who lost to 22nd-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3.
Before the 102nd-ranked Brown, Nadal lost to No. 100 Lukas Rosol in the second round in 2012, to No. 135 Steve Darcis in the first round in 2013, and to No. 144 Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round in 2014.
Also Saturday, Wimbledon's marathon man fell short this time. John Isner, the American who won the longest tennis match in history in 2010, lost 12-10 in the fifth set to U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic. The Croat beat Isner 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-7 (4), 12-10 in a match that resumed Saturday at 10-10.
Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set in that epic match five years ago.
In the women's draw, fifth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the fourth round by beating Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-2, 6-2 and No. 20 Garbine Muguruza of Spain defeated 2012 semifinalist Angelique Kerber 7-6 (12), 1-6, 6-2. Wozniacki will face Muguruza on Monday.
Brown, whose father is Jamaican and mother is German, reached the third round at the All England Club for the second time in his career, but he has never been any further. He also made it that far in 2013.
It was this year that he made a name for himself in the tennis world, however.
Although Nadal has been struggling this season and was eliminated from the French Open in the quarterfinals for only his second loss ever at Roland Garros, he was still expected to get past the 30-year-old Brown at Wimbledon. But Brown's play at the net troubled Nadal throughout their match, and sent the Spaniard home early for the fourth year in a row.
On Saturday, Brown couldn't replicate his game.
"Basically besides one or two service games in the whole match, maybe in the beginning and one time where he double-faulted twice in a row, there weren't many games where I had chances," Brown said.
Also on Day 6 at Wimbledon, Roger Federer was first up on Centre Court facing Sam Groth of Australia. Federer has won the Wimbledon title seven times, and one more would give him the record for most men's singles titles at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
Andy Murray, the 2013 champion, was also scheduled to play on Centre Court later Saturday. The British player will face Andreas Seppi of Italy.
For the women, defending champion Petra Kvitova was to face former top-ranked player Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, also on Centre Court. Kvitova has only lost three games through two rounds and has spent a mere 92 minutes on court so far this tournament.
