World number one Aryna Sabalenka narrowly avoided a seismic shock as she fought back to beat Laura Siegemund and claw her way into the Wimbledon semi-finals.
Title favourite Sabalenka had to twice come back from a break down in the deciding set to beat the 37-year-old German 4-6 6-2 6-4.
Sabalenka has reached the final of the past three majors and, with most of her rivals falling in the first week of SW19, she has an incredible chance of reaching Saturday’s showpiece.
But few would have predicted the scare that Siegemund – who had previously never gone beyond the second round in singles here – came within touching distance of completing.
World number 104 Siegemund, more noted for her doubles prowess, drove Sabalenka to distraction with her slices, brilliant returning and slow pace of play.
It took all of Sabalenka’s grit and determination to hang in and eventually advance after two hours and 54 minutes.
“After the first set I was looking at my box and thinking, ‘book the tickets, we are about to leave’,” Sabalenka, 27, said.
“I had to make sure I didn’t show I was annoyed by her – even if I was slightly, I didn’t want to give her that energy.”
Belarusian Sabalenka will face 13th seed Amanda Anisimova for a place in a first Wimbledon final after the American beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 7-6 (11-9).
There was barely any part of the match on a sun-drenched Centre Court that was enjoyable for Sabalenka.
Siegemund previously described her own game style as annoying, and the frustration was written all over Sabalenka’s face as she spent nearly three hours chasing down drop shots and slices.
There were helpless looks towards her box, chuntering when she missed a vital point and a huge roar when she finally got the best of her opponent.
But Sabalenka has said she is making a conscious effort to stay calmer on court – and it is credit to her that she never lost control or gave up.
She said afterwards that she had learnt from her French Open final loss to Coco Gauff, adding: “I think there’s a big possibility that I would have lose this match if I didn’t learn that lesson.
“I’m really proud that I handled myself really well and didn’t repeat the same mistake I did at the French Open.”
Nothing should take away from how brilliant Siegemund was. She stepped forward to the Sabalenka serve, taking it on early, and chopped her way through her opponent’s huge groundstrokes.
Sabalenka held serve just once in the opening set – and even that required three deuce games – and quickly found herself a double break down.
She rescued one as Siegemund served for the first set at 5-2 but slapped a return into the net to concede the opener in 57 minutes.
Sabalenka immediately left the court to reset herself and it seemed to have worked. She broke straight away for a 2-0 lead but, visibly unsettled, conceded it in the next game.
The match could have slipped away in Sabalenka’s next service game as she was taken from 40-0 to deuce – but roared on by the crowd, she held, then won four games in a row to force a decider.
An early break to love in the third set – secured on a brilliant passing winner from Siegemund – looked to have rattled Sabalenka.
She should have broken back in the next game but ended up falling to her knees at the net, arms outstretched as she sent the passing shot wide to go 3-1 down.
In a nervy ending, Sabalenka broke back, immediately conceded it and then capitalised as Siegemund served to stay in the match, ultimately securing victory with a relieved-looking smash at the net.
“It doesn’t matter if you are a big-hitter or a big server – you have to work, run and earn the victory,” Sabalenka added. “It is tough, but beautiful.”
