Carlos Alcaraz remains on course for a third Wimbledon men's singles title in a row after a straight-sets victory over British home hope Cameron Norrie in their quarter-final.
The Spaniard fell 0-40 down in his opening service game against the unseeded Norrie on Centre Court, but quickly snapped out of his slumber to seal a 6-2 6-3 6-3 victory that should send shudders down the spine of anyone hoping to dethrone him.
There were hundreds of empty seats at the start as fans sought refreshment after watching women's top seed Aryna Sablaneka's protracted last-eight victory.
By the time most of them returned to cheer on the underdog, Alcaraz was in full flow having blazed through the opening set in 28 minutes with a barrage of brilliance.
The tone was set and although Norrie tried his best to dig in, raising his fist in mock triumph as he held serve late in the third set, Alcaraz mercilessly extended his current match winning streak to 23.
Alcaraz, 22, reached his eighth Grand Slam semi-final and will continue his quest for a third successive Wimbledon title against American Taylor Fritz.
Earlier, fifth seed Fritz reached the semi-finals for the first time after coming through a topsy-turvy four-setter against Karen Khachanov where the American seemed to be cruising, but then had to show all his fighting spirit.
Fritz eventually triumphed 6-3 6-4 1-6 7-6(4) but must have thought he was in for an easier passage as he ripped through the first two sets.
Russia's Khachanov, the 17th seed, also seeking a first Wimbledon semi, then won eight of the next nine games to take the third set and move a break up in the fourth.
Fritz, however, regrouped to immediately break back, regain control of his service, and triumph in the decisive tiebreak.
Fritz arrived at Wimbledon in hot grass form after title wins in Stuttgart and Eastbourne and got off to a flier on Tuesday, breaking in the second game and proceeding untroubled to take the set.
It got to 4-4 on serve in the second before Khachanov fell apart to be broken to love and Fritz served out to love for a 2-0 set lead.
In his opening 10 service games the American dropped only seven points and did not face a break point as he won an impressive 88% of points on first serve.
It all changed dramatically and unexpectedly in the third as Fritz's game seemed to fall apart. From cruise control on serve for 90 minutes, he was broken twice, spraying his groundstrokes long and wide, as Khachanov finally found a way to get his serves back and added some venom to his own attack.
Fritz must have been wondering what happened and had time to reset as he received treatment for a foot blister.
It did not seem to change anything though as the American was again loose while Khachanov visibly grew in confidence, bossing the rallies and immediately breaking. He then rattled through a high-speed service game for a 2-0 fourth-set lead.
The Number One Court crowd, desperate to be entertained, were all in on the comeback, but Fritz managed to stem the bleeding by immediately breaking back and then rediscovering his serve dominance.
He still had to work hard, however, before coming through in the tiebreak to set up a meeting with defending champion Alcaraz.
