It was a tale of two matches for Bernard Tomic after he crashed out of the Eastbourne quarter-finals just hours after booking his spot in the last-eight.
With rain earlier this week on the English south coast causing a backlog of fixtures, outstanding second-round matches and quarter-finals were played on the same day.
World No.60 Tomic began the morning well with an impressive 6-3 6-2 win over sixth-seeded German Mischa Zverev only to be dispatched from the tournament later in the afternoon by France's Gael Monfils.
The older brother of rising star Alexander Zverev, Mischa has had a breakout 12 months himself, beating Andy Murray en route to his first grand slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open.
But the 30th ranked German couldn't keep pace with Tomic in their second round encounter on Thursday.
Tomic needed just a single break to take the opening set.
The Australian lifted on both serve and return in the second set to claim another two breaks and the match in a breezy 51 minute performance.
However, it was different story against the world No.16 who edged an evenly-fought opening set 7-4 in a tiebreak, before blowing away the Queenslander 6-0 in the second set to set up a semi-final against compatriot Richard Gasquet.
Gasquet beat South African Kevin Anderson and then third-seeded American John Isner in quick succession.
Novak Djokovic kept his Wimbledon preparations on course by beating American Donald Young 6-2 7-6 (11-9) on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the Aegon International tournament at Eastbourne.
The three times Wimbledon champion survived two set points, one with Young serving at 5-4 and the other on his own serve in the tiebreak at 5-6, before clinching victory with his fourth match point after the American double-faulted.
The Serbian world No.4 will play Russian Daniil Medvedev, who beat American fourth seed Steve Johnson 6-3 2-6 6-3, on Friday for a place in the final of the south coast grass tournament.
Top seed Djokovic - the highest ranked male player to compete at Eastbourne since 1999 - was the first through to the semis after an hour and 35 minutes on court.
"I enjoyed it, especially in the second set," he said.
"The first set went my way and I played well. I felt good on the court and had some break point opportunities early in the second set.
"He served for the set, had a set point and then had set point in the tie-break ... Obviously, it could have gone easily his way. But it hasn't, and I'm just glad the way I kind of held my composure, my nerves.
"This is the kind of match situation that I was looking forward to having, and I'm glad it happened today and I managed to overcome that."
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