Little-known Kyle Edmund is incredibly one win away from supplanting three-time major champion Andy Murray as the British No.1 after surging into the Australian Open semi-finals.
Unseeded and largely unheralded heading into the first major of the year, Edmund dumped Bulgarian No.3 seed Grigor Dimitrov from the Open on Tuesday with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 quarter-final boilover.
He will meet sixth-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic after No.1 seed Rafael Nadal sensationally retired injured from their quarter-final.
Edmund now stands just two wins away from what would be a hugely improbable triumph at a tournament where Sir Andy has five times reached the final, without ever lifting the title.
Edmund has already created history as the first British man other than Murray to reach the Australian Open semi-finals in 41 years.
Not since John Lloyd in 1977 has anyone but Murray achieved the feat.
"It's an amazing feeling - I'm very happy," said Edmund.
"With these things you're so emotionally engaged that you don't really take it in, you don't really enjoy yourself, so just at the end ... I just really tried to enjoy the moment.
The crucial break on Tuesday came in the penultimate game of the fourth set when Edmund successfully challenged a backhand by Dimitrov that was initially called in, only for Hawk-Eye to show it had landed fractionally outside the sideline.
The Brit served out the contest in the following game but he was made to wait an agonising extra few seconds before being declared the victor after the Bulgarian made an unsuccessful challenge on match point.
With Murray absent this year due to a hip injury and women's No.9 seed Johanna Konta departing in the second round, Edmund has found himself in the unfamiliar situation of being the focus of British interest at a major.
"I know what it feels like to be Andy Murray for the last eight years or however long," Edmund said after his incredible run.
It's a position he has handled with aplomb.
"Wow!" tweeted Murray after Edmund also became only the sixth British man in the Open era to reach the last four at a grand slam.
The victory came in Edmund's first-ever match on Rod Laver Arena against a better-credentialled opponent in Dimitrov, who had ended the campaign of local favourite Nick Kyrgios in the previous round.
"He's played hard matches and played a high level match against Nick so I knew it was going to be tough," said Edmund.
"I had a bit of a dip in that second set - I think it was quite poor tennis at some points - but in the third set I managed to break him right at the end.
"I had a little blip in the fourth set but I really just held my nerve in that last game and prayed that last ball was out."
Dimitrov made no attempt to hide his disappointment at failing to at least match his run to the semis at last year's Open.
"It hurts - and so it should," he said.
"Right now I won't think too rationally, simple as that.
"I need to give myself a couple of days just to relax a little bit and do things I don't get a chance to do during the tournament, and reassess the whole Australian trip.
"Overall it wasn't a bad one, but it certainly wasn't where I wanted to be."
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