SNAPSHOT FROM DAY NINE AT THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN:

PLAYER OF THE DAY: Elise Mertens – the unseeded Belgian continued her stellar unbeaten summer with a 6-4 6-0 quarter-final shellacking of fourth seed Elina Svitolina to make the last four on her Melbourne Park debut.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Everything is possible in tennis but of course semis is ‘wow’.” an over-the-moon Mertens.

STAT OF THE DAY: Unseeded Kyle Edmund is the first British man other than five-times runner-up Andy Murray to reach the semi-finals since John Lloyd 41 years ago after upsetting world No.3 Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4.

TURNING POINT: Edmund successfully challenging a backhand from Dimitrov that was initially called in, only for Hawk-Eye to show it had landed fractionally outside the side-line to give the Brit the decisive fourth-set break on Rod Laver Arena.

TOURNAMENT SUMMARY: The upsets continue with Mertens and Edmund edging to within two wins of extraordinary Open triumphs.