Juan Martin del Potro remains on course for a rare Sunshine Double after he outlasted Milos Raonic 5-7 7-6(1) 7-6(3) in a marathon quarter-final at the Miami Open.
Del Potro, who claimed the Indian Wells title earlier this month, fed off the energy of a raucous crowd that was firmly behind the Argentine on Wednesday night, wearing down the 20th-seeded Canadian over almost three hours.
The clock had just struck midnight when fifth seed Del Potro finally dispatched Raonic.
The Canadian was defeated despite not facing a single break point in the first two sets, before the contest took a bizarre twist at the start of the decider when both players were broken twice in a row.
Order was soon restored as both men held for the next eight games, sending the contest to a deciding tiebreak, in which Raonic never recovered after double-faulting to fall 2-0 down.
The result continued Del Potro's hot streak after he won in California 10 days ago, beating Roger Federer in a three-set final to claim a maiden Masters 1000 title.
He advances to face another big server, American John Isner, who overwhelmed South Korean Chung Hyeon 6-1 6-4 in an afternoon match.
A fired-up Isner broke Chung's serve in the first set to race to a 3-1 lead, ending the Korean's streak of 27 consecutive holds of serve.
The 14th-seeded Isner cruised through the remainder of the 25-minute opener, in which he fired seven of his 13 aces.
Chung was unable to find an answer to Isner's booming serve in a match in which he failed to convert his only break point opportunity and was himself broken four times.
"I played extremely well. Every match I've played in this tournament I've gotten better," the 32-year-old Isner said.
The other quarter-finals will be played on Thursday.
South African sixth seed Kevin Anderson faces Spanish 16th seed Pablo Carreno Busta before German fourth seed Alexander Zverev faces Croatian 29th seed Borna Coric.
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