World number four Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame a major scare to down American Taylor Fritz to book his place in the quarter finals.
Fritz was two sets to one up and looked to be cruising, only for Tsitsipas to steal the fourth before motoring away in the fifth; 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The result will be a bitter pill for the 20th seed to swallow, but he can take heart from taking Tsitsipas all the way.
The fourth round is the furthest Fritz has gone in a Grand Slam and it was the big match experience that gave the Greek the vital edge in best of five sets.
The first set began with both players holding serve.
Fritz and Tsitsipas know each other’s game well having grown up as juniors together, and the mutual respect was on show for all to see.
The Rod Laver Arena crowd saw the first glimpse of the world number 22’s skills, as he lobbed Tsitsipas at 2-2 in the opening set, much to their delight.
Fritz got the decisive break in game seven, to surge 4-3 ahead.
He held his next two service games to claim the set 6-4.
But the fourth seed was not going away, and produced some powerful groundstrokes to steam through his service games.
The Greek ace pounced towards the end of the second set, stealing the break of serve, to level the match.
At the beginning of the third, 30-love down, Tsitsipas won a 23-shot rally with a rasping backhand winner down the line, one of his signature shots.
This was crucial in the Greek holding serve.
But with exact symmetry of the first set, Fritz broke at 3-3, then held serve to take a 5-3 lead.
Tsitsipas looked to be cruising through his service game at 40-30, but Fritz battled back to deuce and saw three set points saved by the Greek.
It mattered not, like the first set, Fritz won his next service game and went up two sets to one.
An upset was brewing out on Rod Laver Arena and the crowd strapped back, almost sensing it would go the distance.
It did. Tsitsipas blasted his way back into the match, breaking the American at 4-3 with some sublime hitting, and took the set 6-3.
Tsitsipas now had all the momentum and it was a final set shoot out.
Fritz held serve to keep his nose in front, but at 4-4 Tsitsipas struck and broke the American at deuce with his first break point.
Tsitsipas made no mistake in serving out a five-set classic and sealed his place, yet again, in the Australian Open quarter finals.
The winner had this to say afterwards.
“An epic match. I gave everything on the court,” he said.
“I’m proud of the way I fought and the way I stayed consistent in the crucial moments. I am overwhelmed, the stadium was on fire.”
