Karlovic broke his previous ATP record, but still lost in a gruelling five-set match to Stepanek.
In the Australian Open, he lost a heartbreaking five-set semifinal against eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
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In the fourth round, he won a five-hour, five-set match against Stanislas Wawrinka after trailing 6-1, 5-2.
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Ferrer was followed on court by Nicolas Almagro and John Isner who played out a thrilling five-set match.
Tsonga's win could hardly have been in greater contrast to Sunday's epic five-set first-round success against Daniel Brands.
But Janko Tipsarevic overcame Radek Stepanek in a five-set thriller 5-7 6-4 6-4 4-6 9-7 to level the tie.
Yet he sounded remarkably upbeat after finally pushing Djokovic to the edge of defeat (they had never played a five-set match before).
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Despite the loss, Murray was upbeat about his performance in Australia, which included his first five-set victory over Federer at a major.
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"He hasn't quite figured out how to play five-set matches yet, " says Mats Wilander, the Swedish star who battled Mr. Lendl for years.
And Djokovic's finals appearance was already made possible, don't forget, by his salvaging four match points in a five-set quarterfinal versus Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
He suffered a series of embarrassing losses, the worst of which was a five-set defeat by George Bastl in the second round of Wimbledon.
Stepanek followed up a fine five-set victory over Gustavo Kuerten at the Australian Open with a 6-4 6-3 triumph over the tournament's top seed.
Benneteau -- a winner over Federer this year and a five-set loser to the Swiss at Wimbledon last year -- was bothered by a leg injury.
Coming off two match points, five-time Open champion Roger Federer lost to third-seeded Novak Djokovic in a riveting five-set semifinal match, 5-7, 6-1, 7-5, 6-2, 7-5.
He will face Federer in the final for the third straight year, having lost in four sets in 2006 and a five-set classic 12 months ago.
Another home player in fine form was British number two James Ward , who took 10th seed Mardy Fish all the way in a gruelling five-set match.
It started with a semifinal run and a grueling, five-set, nearly five-hour loss to Djokovic in Melbourne, followed by his first final at Wimbledon, where he lost to Federer.
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His success in 2002 stemmed from a surprise semi-final appearance at the year's first Grand Slam in Australia where he lost to eventual champion Thomas Johansson in a five-set thriller.
Cilic, 21, toppled Roddick 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, after the American battled with a shoulder injury for a large part of the grueling five-set, four-hour marathon match.
Russia called up Andreev to give regular doubles player Mikhail Youzhny more time to recover from a back injury sustained late in his five-set defeat to Ljubicic on Friday.
But since that dramatic five-set win over Roger Federer at Flushing Meadows, Del Potro has struggled with a wrist problem and won just two matches during the build-up to London.
The 21-year-old Argentine came into the tournament with a wrist problem, and dropped sets in each of his opening three matches - including a gruelling five-set win over James Blake.
Robson and Jankovic walked on to a half-empty Centre Court as many of the 15, 000 spectators took a quick break after the unexpected five-set thriller that preceded them involving Roger Federer.
So Ancic's chances of repeating that famous win were already slim and were not helped by a leg injury and an energy-sapping five-set match against Fernando Verdasco in the previous round.
The U.S.'s tie with Brazil in Florida is also well poised after the Bryan brothers suffered a shock five-set defeat (6-7 7-6 4-6 6-3 3-6) to Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares on Saturday.
Tipsarevic beat Filip Prpic in straight sets in Friday's opening rubber and showed no signs of tiredness after playing in a five-set defeat in the doubles Saturday as Sweden cut the deficit to 2-1.
Murray was listless, partly the result of his five-set win on Monday and partly drained by the pressure from Nadal, and he was broken again as Nadal wrapped up the second set in 33 minutes.
Organisers had earlier warned the final could be moved to Monday due to the dire conditions but, as the weather cleared, they opted to reduce the final from a five-set contest to a three-set one.
The Frenchman, now ranked 57th after last year serving a ban for testing positive for cocaine which was reduced on appeal due to mitigating circumstances, was defeated in a five-set epic by Russian 20th seed Mikhail Youzhny.
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