Novak Djokovic lost his temper but refused to let the prospect of Australian Open glory slip away as he edged out Alexander Zverev to reach the semi-finals.
The world number one destroyed a racket when trailing 3-1 in the third set, after he and Zverev split the opening two sets, and it was one of a number of moments when the Serbian showed heightened volatility during a 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 6-4 7-6 (8-6) win.
Still bothered by an abdominal problem that he sustained in the third round, Djokovic nevertheless strides on and will face Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev for a place in the final.
Zverev, who played in a bright yellow headband and vest top, with a gold medallion hanging from his neck, will look back on an opportunity missed.
As well as that third-set lead, Zverev was also up a break at the start of the fourth, but the US Open runner-up lacked the composure to convert those hard-earned positions.
If Djokovic's racket-smashing was a tactical move designed to gee himself up and distract Zverev, then it worked a treat.
A nip-and-tuck opener had gone the way of German world number seven Zverev, who then made a wretched start to the second set and was 4-0 behind in the blink of an eye.
Just as momentum began to swing back Zverev's way in the third, Djokovic went into his rage, with a ball girl summoned to clear up the mess the 33-year-old created.
Back came Djokovic as double faults began to leak from Zverev's racket, and soon they were into a fourth set.
Zverev led 3-0 but Djokovic was not going away, seizing on mistakes from an opponent who by the end of the second tie-break of the match could only wonder what might have been.
An ace from Djokovic finished off the contest. After eight titles at Melbourne Park, a hunger for more continues to define his every performance in Australia.
"Emotionally I feel a little bit drained. We pushed each other to the limit," Djokovic said in his on-court interview.
"Other than in the second set I started pretty poorly in all the other three sets. I lost my service very early in the first, third and fourth and allowed him to swing through the ball a bit more, but I regained my focus.
"I broke that racket and things started to shift a little bit for me in a positive direction."
Rafael Nadal eases past Flavio Cobolli on return to action in Barcelona
Rafael Nadal made a triumphant return to the match court with victory over Flavio Cobolli in the first round of the Barcelona Open.
The 37-year-old was playing just his second tournament in 15 months after suffering another injury problem in his hip muscle at his comeback event in Brisbane in January.
Nadal only committed to playing at the tournament he has won 12 times on Monday but there was not much rust on display as he eased to a 6-2 6-3 victory over 21-year-old Italian Cobolli in his first match on clay since he won his 14th French Open title in 2022.
Nadal received a hero’s welcome as he strode out onto the court that bears his name and, although there were a few loose forehands in the early stages, the former world number one was too solid for Cobolli.
Cobolli understandably looked nervous and contributed to the scoreline with far too many errors, but a big factor in that was the pressure being exerted from the other end of the court.
A blip came when Nadal, who is set to retire at some point this season, played a poor game to drop serve for the first time in the third game of the second set but he had already broken Cobolli and quickly restored his advantage.
There were some vintage forehands from Nadal in the final stages and he clinched victory when Cobolli netted a final backhand, thrusting his fist into the air.
The home favourite faces a real test next, though, when he takes on in-form fourth seed Alex De Minaur.
Meanwhile, second seed Andrey Rublev destroyed his racket at the end of a 6-4 7-6 (6) defeat by Brandon Nakashima that continued his poor run of form.
Andy Murray will not have surgery on ankle injury but return date unknown
Andy Murray will not have surgery on an ankle injury and his rehabilitation is progressing enough for him to think about a return to practice again soon.
The 36-year-old ruptured ligaments at last month’s Miami Open but he is now out of his protective boot.
A spokesperson from Murray’s team said the former world number one’s “rehab is going well and he is hoping to start hitting again on court soon” but added that “he doesn’t have a date yet for returning to competition”.
Murray was injured late on in his third-round defeat by Tomas Machac at the Miami Open on March 24.
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After crying out in pain and falling to the floor, he was able to complete the match following on-court treatment but revealed in an Instagram post that he had seriously damaged two ligaments in his left ankle.
The timing was cruel for the three-time grand slam champion, who had won back-to-back matches for the first time this year in Miami.
Murray has said he is unlikely to play beyond this summer as retirement looms ever nearer.
It is unclear if he will be fit for Wimbledon, which gets under way on July 1, while the Olympic Games in Paris – which the two-time gold medallist said he would like to play at – starts on July 26.
Dan Evans’ poor clay-court season continues with defeat to Brandon Nakashima
Dan Evans’ poor clay-court season continued with a third consecutive defeat as he went down in straight sets to Brandon Nakashima in Barcelona.
Evans has endured a difficult 2024 as a whole, suffering a first-round exit at the Australian Open, and has now failed to make the quarter-finals in any of his nine tournaments this year.
After early exits on clay in Marrakesh and Monte Carlo, British number three Evans lost 6-7 (5) 2-6 to Nakashima in the Barcelona Open first round.
The contest lasted two hours and 10 minutes but after a closely-fought first set, where the pair exchanged two breaks each, American youngster Nakashima took control in the second to inflict another loss on world number 49 Evans.
Jack Draper fared better in Munich as he beat Vit Kopriva in three sets to reach the last 16 of the BMW Open and claim his 50th ATP Tour victory in the process.
Draper had lost narrowly to Hubert Hurkacz at the Monte-Carlo Masters last week, but bounced back to claim his first win of the season on clay.
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Sixth seed Draper breezed through the opening set in 28 minutes before he let a 3-1 lead slip in the second as Kopriva of the Czech Republic forced a decider after he decisively broke his opponent in the 12th game of the set.
After the British number two rediscovered his composure, Draper was able to claim two breaks at the start of the third set before he registered another in a 6-1 5-7 6-4 success.
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