Schuettler finished off his quarterfinal victory over Arnaud Clement 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7), 8-6 on Thursday, 23 1/2 hours after the pair first walked onto Court 1.
They split the first two sets Wednesday before play was halted because of darkness. When they resumed, Clement wound up wasting a match point at 5-4 in the fifth set, and Schuettler frittered away two match points before winning a contest that lasted 5 hours, 12 minutes - tying for the second-longest men's singles match at the All England Club.
Two-time runner-up Nadal advanced Wednesday with a straight-set victory over 12th-seeded Andy Murray.
Schuettler, who is ranked 94th, will face No. 2 Nadal on Friday.
"I'm so far away right now from that match,'' Schuettler said. "Today I was out of the tournament already, then I won. ... Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow?''
Clement seemed to have an idea. Asked about his opponent's chances, he paused and slowly exhaled while he looked for a diplomatic answer.
"I really, really don't care now about the chances of Rainer tomorrow,'' Clement said. "He played a very good match today against me. But I don't know if he has one chance or if he has a lot. About the match tomorrow, I really, really don't care.''
Schuettler's best previous Grand Slam showing was reaching the 2003 Australian Open final, where he lost to Andre Agassi.
And Schuettler was so sure he wouldn't make it to the second week of Wimbledon this year, he had made plans to travel to Spain to play in a minor tournament. Those plans, of course, were canceled.
"You can be out of the tournament in five minutes or you can win in five minutes,'' Schuettler said. "And I don't know how, but I won it.''
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