Cameron Norrie has become the first British man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals since Andy Murray after mounting a sensational comeback to defeat Bel bgian David Goffin.
The ninth seed twice recovered from a set down to claim a 3-6 7-5 2-6 6-3 7-5 victory and become only the fourth British man in the Open era to reach the last four of the championships.
The British number one had never made it beyond the the third round of a grand slam but drew a surge of energy from a bouncing court one crowd in sets four and five to set up a mouth-watering tie with defending champion Novak Djokovic.
Norrie, 26, sealed victory on his second match point following an epic three-and-a-half hour battle against the world number 58.
He was broken early in the first set and narrowly avoided a repeat in the second at 0-40 to haul it back to two games each before going on to win the tie break.
Goffin fired back with a commanding third set win, but struggled to gain a foothold in the fourth when his serve fell apart.
Norrie seized full advantage by creating two set points and hammering home the first to take game 12 in a pulsating final set.
“I’m speechless,” a breathless Norrie told the crowd afterwards.
“It wasn’t going my way from the beginning, I wasn’t feeling well and feeling the ball, that’s all credit to David.
“Then thanks to you guys, I stayed as patient as I could. It was just adrenaline. I used my legs at the end and just tried to put the ball in the court.
“I think just winning a match like this, straight flashbacks of all the hard work, all the pre-seasons and all the sacrifices I’ve had to make. It definitely pays off and it feels pretty good.”
Norrie now gets two days to recover ahead of his semi-final with Djokovic on Friday.
He added: “I’m going to take it to him. Hopefully you guys will get behind me again, I’m sure you will. I can’t enjoy it too much now, just get ready for a couple of days.”
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