Krajicek outshoots Scud

Dutchman Richard Krajicek won a battle of the patched-up old warriors on Wednesday when he finally overcame Australian wildcard Mark Philippoussis in a fourth-round marathon that stretched over two days.

It was a titanic struggle for the 30-year-old Krajicek, who had been out for 20 months after elbow surgery, and he never dreamed he would get this far at Wimbledon.

As darkness fell on court one, the 1996 Wimbledon champion finally secured an epic 6-7 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-4 victory that took him into a last-eight encounter against Belgian Xavier Malisse.

"Suddenly I am in the quarter finals and it is unbelievable," said Krajicek, who confessed he would now have to postpone the family holiday he had been planning.

"I would never have expected this. I had booked my holiday house for today. My wife is already at the holiday house. That shows the trust I had in my ability to reach the second week," he told reporters afterwards.

It was more like a penalty shoot out in the World Cup as the big servers battled it out for one last set in the gathering gloom.

Over the match, the Australian -- known as Scud for his thundering serve -- sent down 27 aces, while his opponent responded with 24 of his own.

With the match evenly poised after the pair had won two tiebreaks each on Tuesday, Krajicek came out fighting in the deciding set.

He broke the towering Australian's serve for only the second time in the whole match and clung tenaciously to that hard fought advantage all the way to the end.

For Philippoussis, it was a bitter disappointment.

He had been confined to a wheelchair after three knee operations that had put his professional career in doubt.

But he had been hoping against hope that fairytales would come true twice in a row at Wimbledon -- Goran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon last year on a wildcard.

"It was tough. What can you do?" he said afterwards, before confirming that his self-belief was as strong as ever.

"I have no doubt in my mind that I am going to win this tournament," he told his post-match press conference.

"I know I can get back," the 25-year-old said. "I have to hang in there and train hard. It will turn around for me. I know it will."