LONDON: Germany’s Rainer Schuettler defeated Frenchman Arnaud Clement in a gruelling battle of the thirty-somethings on Thursday to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time in his career.

The 32-year-old, the oldest man left in the tournament, won 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (7/9), 8-6. The match, which started on Wednesday evening, took five hours 12 minutes to complete, tying the record for the second longest men’s match in history at Wimbledon. Schuettler, a former world number five and Australian Open runner-up in 2003, is the first German to reach the last four here since Michael Stich in 1997.

The world number 94, who put out American ninth seed James Blake in the second round, had never got beyond the fourth round in his nine previous visits to the All England Club. But he made the most of the huge opportunity which presented itself when fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Roddick, the sixth seed, were both knocked out early in his part of the draw.

Clement had wasted a match point in the 10th game of the final set before Schuettler went on to claim victory.

Schuettler said he had his eye on a few relaxing days in the Swiss mountains but getting to the Wimbledon semifinals has scuppered his plan. He already had to duck out of an event in Spain when he realised he would be playing in the second week of Wimbledon and he has now also had to delay his vacation plans.

“I said I would go a few days in the mountains in Switzerland, spend some time there, just get away from everything because I’m playing next week in Stuttgart on clay,” the 94th-ranked Schuettler told a news conference. “But, yeah, I’m still here, so it feels good,” he said.