MARIN CILIC held all the aces as he downed Rafa Nadal slayer Gilles Muller for a place in the semi-finals.
The Croat, who won the US Open in 2014, triumphed 3-6 7-6 7-5 5-7 6-1 in 3hrs30mins.
Cilic said: “It means a lot (to make the semis). An amazing, amazing achievement. Today was a really hard-fought battle. Gilles played great tennis and was serving unbelievable.
“I had to work hard until I got the first break.
“These matches are quite long, you have to keep your focus, I was relieved to get through it.”
Big-serving Muller led the tournament in the ace count after racking up 102 before this match.
Many of them had come in his 4hr48mins shock five-set win over Nadal in the last round, where the final set had finished 15-13 to the Luxembourg ace.
The 34-year-old added another 17 to his tally here but it was not enough to upset the odds this time.
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And it was No7 seed Cilic who bossed the ace battle in this clash, firing down a whopping 33.
He started tentatively though against the man he had beaten at Queen’s last month and was punished for his cautious approach with two breaks of his serve.
Cilic made up for it in the second-set tie-break, letting out a roar of delight as his fine passing shot saw him close it out 8-6.
The world No6 stepped it up a gear to take the third set, but Muller managed to level things up in the fourth after saving three break points and then breaking himself to love at 6-5.
Cilic brushed off the disappointment though, breaking twice in the decider to romp to victory.
The 28-year-old now faces Sam Querrey on Friday in the last four, after the American beat injury-hit Andy Murray.
Querrey will have his work cut out though, as he has never beaten Cilic in four previous meetings.
Asked if he had noticed Querrey had beaten Murray on Centre Court during his match, Cilic added: “I saw that at the end of the match Sam had won.
"An amazing achievement for him and it’s great for both of us to play in the semi-finals.”
Querrey and Cilic’s Friday meeting will be a replay of the second-longest Wimbledon match ever.
The pair played out a 5hr31mins third-round clash in 2012, with Cilic coming through 17-15 in the decider.
It stands second in the records only to the three-day, 11hr05mins marathon between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut that happened two years prior that will surely never be beaten.
Asked what to expect from his match with Querrey, Cilic said: “Hopefully it will not be the longest one ever!
“Sam has an amazing serve. It’s going to be tough, I’m going to get ready and find my rhythm.”
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