Sometimes a bush leaguer breaks out of his lowly environment and makes a smash hit upstairs. That was Gilles Muller yesterday, shaking up the establishment at the US Open - as he has done before - and then fading away to the bushes.

Muller says he never aspired to being the greatest tennis player in the history of Luxembourg. "But I am. What does it mean?" he says with his winner's smile, maybe as broad as Luxembourg itself and sure to last for days. Even if Luxembourg is only large enough to contain two or three courts, he realises his accomplishment is sort of like being the biggest cheese in the Netherlands.

Like others of his struggling caste, Muller, ranked No.118, had to brave three rounds of the savage qualifying to even associate with his betters. One of them was the spiky Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro, whom he defeated in a wild contest 6-7 3-6 7-6 7-6 7-5, that lasted 4 hours 8 minutes, with only two service breaks.

Lucky 7s for Muller, who dazedly looks around the Billie Jean King Center Court and finds himself one of the last eight standing on his end of the draw. His snaky southpaw serve (38 aces, a tournament high) probably made the slim difference. A nifty drop volley took No.18 Almagro's serve on match point, and a madhouse crowd of 6,200 crammed into the grandstand court went even more mad. Just as the patrons did on Friday when Muller pulled off another two-sets-behind coup to floor German Tommy Haas, No. 39.

A loose-limbed, 6ft 5in 25-year-old, Muller is a rambler like all tennis players. However, most of his time is spent in the minor tournaments, where the conditions and cash leave much to be desired. Remote locations in India, Turkey, Britain, Ireland, Finland, Germany, the US and Spain were on his itinerary.

"I made $3,000 last week, quarter-finals in Istanbul," he says, "but most of the time your expenses are greater than your prize money."

That's why surfacing in the big league, only his third US Open, is such a windfall. He's earned a minimum of $80,000 and, he says, "the computer points that will put me in the top 100. That's where you make the big money. I mean, in the top 100 you play all the big tournaments throughout the year, and that's easier to live with.

"One week ago I couldn't imagine this. I lost in the first round last year to Vince Spadea. Now I have a lot of confidence to go against Nikolay Davydenko. At match point, I had goosebumps."

Good-looking, good-natured, Muller feels on top of the Empire State Building. No Luxembourger has gotten this far in a major, he says.

"There were moments where I thought, should I still keep playing? At the challenger level, you're losing money. But winning three matches in the main draw here, it's pretty amazing. I never won two matches from two sets down before. I didn't think I could turn matches around like that. Today - tight. Only two breaks of serve.

"Why these wins? Good question. I don't know. I guess everything is in the head, everything is confidence. I guess I lost a lot of it the last three years after a pretty good 2005. It was a rough time, but I'm glad I didn't stop."

The confidence began to return through the qualifiers. He almost lost in the first round to the unforgettable Algerian, Lamine Ouahab 6-7 7-6 7-5. From there the basement gates opened and sun shone in, as it has since. Muller is the lone surviving qualifier.

"I was happy when I qualified. To me, that was good enough (a guarantee of $18,500), but look what happened. I went onto the court against Tommy Haas and played a terrible two sets. I said, 'Come on, man. You have nothing to lose. Why are you playing so tight?' Then I started to play better. Now I know I can turn around matches. That gave me a lot of confidence."

OK, but don't invite Muller and Andy Roddick to the same party. They last collided in the opening round of the 2005 Open. Muller's serve was never snakier, a veritable cobra, as he brought down Roddick 7-6 7-6 7-6. That also brought down a heavy American Express commercial campaign featuring Andy's "mojo". Muller made it No-go. But then his confidence went, too.

I asked him if he knew what "bush leaguer" meant. "Oh sure. I guess I'm one," he said.

But not at this US Open. The bush leaguer is breathing in the second week.

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