Just as "nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row", no man can deny Tomas Berdych on 18 straight occasions either.
Not even the great Rafael Nadal.
"Well, no," Berdych beamed after handing Nadal one of the heaviest defeats of his celebrated grand slam career to send the 14-times major winner crashing out of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
In a spectacular reversal after enduring a "record" 17 straight losses to the champion Spaniard, Berdych humbled Nadal 6-2 6-0 7-6 (7-5) in a quarter-final boilover at Melbourne Park.
"I was ready for everything and that was the biggest difference," Berdych said.
"We set up a plan very well and I stuck to it for three sets."
Another defeat to his decade-long nemesis and Berdych would have been the first player in 47 years of professional men's tennis to lose 18 consecutive matches to a rival.
If he didn't quite draw inspiration from Gerulaitis' famous 1979 quote after finally ending years of misery at the hands of fellow American Jimmy Connors, Berdych admitted he sure knew of the classic line.
In avoiding an inglorious place in the history books, the imposing Czech instead joined Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as only the second man to claim the grand slam scalps of tennis's so-called big four - Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
His reward is a semi-final showdown on Thursday night with Murray for a spot in Sunday's title match.
Sixth seed Murray ended Nick Kyrgios's great run with a 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 win over Australia's boy wonder in Tuesday night's second quarter-final.
Widely regarded as the best player yet to win a major, the 29-year-old now believes he can finally break through at Melbourne Park as he carries a 6-4 head-to-head advantage over Murray into their semi.
"I'm ready," said Berdych, who came closest to landing a slam when he lost the 2010 Wimbledon final - to Nadal of course.
"I'm feeling strong and confident and I want to go all the way."
Nadal came into the tournament insisting he wasn't a serious title contender after playing just eight matches since Wimbledon due to back and wrist injuries and an appendectomy in October.
The former world No.1 dodged a bullet in the second round against lowly-ranked American qualifier Tim Smyczek but appeared to be working his way into the championship after winning his next two matches in straight sets.
But Berdych brutally exposed his lack of match toughness, striking 46 winners to 24 and breaking the 2009 Open champion five times on Rod Laver Arena.
He also dished out the first bagel to Nadal at a slam since Roger Federer secured the first set 6-0 in the 2006 Wimbledon final.
"You cannot expect to win matches in quarter-finals of a grand slam helping the opponent to play well. That's what I did," Nadal said after committing an uncustomary 26 unforced errors in three sets of tennis.
Despite his exit, Nadal declared his campaign a reasonable success.
"Without being at my top level of tennis I was able to be here in the quarter-finals," he said.
"It is not a bad result at all for me arriving here the way I arrived."
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