Home hope Andy Murray has overcome a second frustrating rain delay to take his place alongside Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Murray returned to the All England Club on Tuesday up a set and a service break in his fourth-round match against Marin Cilic and finished the Croatian off 7-5 6-2 6-3.
The world No.4 will be back on Wednesday to face either Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer or Argentine ninth seed Juan Martin del Potro for a semi-final berth as he continues his ongoing quest to become the first British man to win a grand slam singles title since 1936.
With the forecast miserable for London this week, the All England Club’s decision to play Murray on court one, rather than centre court and its retractable roof, drew howls of disapproval from the locals.
But faced with the prospect of having to play three days straight to make the last four, the fourth-seeded Scot took matters into his own hand on Tuesday.
He spent barely an hour on court, breaking Cilic in the eighth game of the second set to surge to a two-sets-to-love lead.
Playing aggressive tennis trying to beat the rain, and serving superbly, Murray fought off four break points in the opening game of the third set to safely hold as dark clouds continued to hover.
He claimed the vital third-set service break in the fourth game and, playing with suitable urgency, closed out the stop-start match in two hours and 10 minutes.
Three times a semi-finalist, Murray is now two wins away from his maiden Wimbledon final.
In the top half of the draw, titleholder Djokovic and six-times champion Federer remain on a semi-final collision course.
Djokovic meets German Florian Mayer in his quarter-final on Wednesday after clinically disposing of fellow Serb Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-1 6-3 in his fourth-round mismatch.
Mayer completed his own rain-interrupted 6-3 6-1 3-6 6-2 victory over Frenchman Richard Gasquet on Tuesday.
Federer is up against Russian Mikhail Youzhny after beating a back injury and Belgian Xavier Malisse 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 4-6 6-3 to reach the last eight for the 33rd straight time at a major.
