Cool Swiss Roger Federer restored order after Andy Murray lost his rag in an explosive exit from the US Open in New York.
As Federer advanced with a minimum of fuss to a record 46th grand slam quarter-final, Murray snapped and challenged Open officials to fine him while having his own streak of 18 consecutive last-eight appearances at a major shattered by Kevin Anderson.
Anderson, the 15th seed, smashed 0-15 career hoodoo against top-10 opponents in grand slams with a tense 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-0) win over the 2012 champion at Flushing Meadows.
The South African's reward for his first foray into a grand slam quarter-final is a date on Wednesday with fifth-seeded French Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
"It was the match of my life," the South African said.
"Andy is such a great fighter and amazing player."
But Murray's expletive-laden mid-match tirade spectacularly overshadowed Anderson's watershed win.
Livid about Anderson's lengthy bathroom break after the second set, Murray unloaded at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The third seed dropped a series of F-bombs in protest to Anderson's lengthy bathroom, then smashed a racquet and launched a ball into the crowd in frustration as his Open hopes slipped away.
"F...... fine me," Murray raged during Anderson's toilet trip.
"Federer also had to wait out a bathroom break from his opponent after the second set but, as usual, kept his cool to safely progress with a 7-6 (7-0) 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 victory over American 13th seed John Isner.
Isner extended his remarkable run of service holds at Flushing Meadows to 114 games, a streak stretching back to his third-round loss last year Philipp Kohlschreiber, but still couldn't manage to extract a set from the great Swiss.
"Obviously John is one of the best servers in the game. Especially the pace on his second serve is unreal," Federer said.
"You've just got to make sure you hang around and don't drop serve yourself, and that was probably the key to the match."
Second seed Federer will play 12th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet - a 2-6 6-3 6-4 6-1 winner of Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych - on Wednesday for a place in the semi-finals as he eyes a sixth title in New York.
The 34-year-old, who is trying to become the oldest US Open champion since Ken Rosewall in 1970, has yet to drop a set this campaign and remains on track for an all-Swiss semi-final with Wawrinka.
Wawrinka, though, must reverse a run of four straight losses to Anderson, including three on hard courts, to keep alive his hopes of landing a second grand slam crown in 2015.
Wawrinka defeated US comeback king Donald Young 6-4 1-6 6-3 6-4 to book his place in the last eight.
Wawrinka dropped his first set of the tournament but made an eighth quarter-final in his past nine grand slams, denying 68th-ranked Young his first trip to the last eight at a major.
Young was the first player since Gilles Muller in 2008 to twice rally from two sets down at a US Open, having been 0-17 in such matches before this week.
But the left-hander fell to 3-18 against top-10 opponents.
"He had the crowd. It was a tough match for sure," Wawrinka said. "It was a great atmosphere."
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