Rafael Nadal is out of the Australian Open after a shock comeback defeat in five sets to Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6, 6-4, 7-5.
The World No.2 took a two-set lead with ease, as his fifth-seed opponent struggled, and after the second set, it looked over.
But Tsitsipas wasn’t done. The 22-year-old took a third set tiebreaker 7-4, before levelling by taking the fourth set 6-4.
Tsitsipas then held his nerve in a pulsating final set, breaking Nadal in the penultimate game to claim victory.
He becomes only the third player to reverse sweep Nadal after Roger Federer and Fabio Fognini.
Tsitsipas faces Daniil Medvedev in Friday’s semi-final, after the Bulgarian fourth seed comfortably overcame Andrey Rublev 7-5 6-3 6-2 in the first quarter-final of the day.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, number one seed Ashleigh Barty suffered a surprise exit at the hands of 25th seed Karolina Muchova, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Barty comfortably took the first set, before a medical timeout in the second set allowed Muchova to regain momentum and finish off the comeback.
Muchova complained of dizziness in the Melbourne heat, but there was no doubt that the timeout, taken when Barty was a break up in the second set, enabled her to stop the Australian in her tracks and surge back, winning five of the next six games and 11 of the next 14 to take the match.
Muchova will face the USA’s Jill Brady in tomorrow’s semi-finals, after Brady saw off fellow American Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Elsewhere, it was a happy day for the Brits in the men’s doubles, with both Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury winning to set up a semi-final clash.
Murray and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares defeated Israel’s Marcelo Arevalo and The Netherlands’ Matwe Middelkoop 6-3 6-4, while Salisbury and Rajeev Ram took a step closer to retaining their Australian Open title as they took down Philipp Oswald and Marcus Daniell 7-6 (8-6) 6-2.
The finalists of the women’s doubles were also confirmed, with second-seed Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens defeating Demi Shuurs and Nicole Melichar in straight sets.
They face third-seeded Czech duo Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova, who came from a set down to beat Darija Jurak and Nina Stojanovic.
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Featured image credit: Crinae06 via Wikimedia Commons CC 2.0 license
