Andy Murray may have gone and new star Jack Draper been kayoed but British tennis fans are counting on old favourite Cam Norrie to produce the goods after he booked them the delicious treat of a Wimbledon quarter-final against reigning champ Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz had a rip-roaring fourth-round scrap with mercurial Russian Andrey Rublev before prevailing 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Centre Court to keep his bid for a Wimbledon hat-trick very much on track on Sunday.
But the Spaniard's trial from Rublev was as nothing compared to the bombardment faced by former semi-finalist Norrie, who had to survive a barrage of 46 aces and 103 winners from Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry under the roof of No.1 court before winning 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (7-9) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3.
The classic contest had the home fans roaring for Norrie in the same fashion that characterised his much-hyped run to the last-eight three years ago -- but there was a touch of feistiness about it too, with Jarry having complained to the umpire about the time Norrie was taking between first and second serves.
At the end, the pair had an animated discussion next to the umpire's chair, and afterwards Jarry noted: "He's very competitive, so he knows how to make the most of the important games, the important part of the match."
But Norrie shrugged: "I actually didn't even notice he was upset. I want to settle before I hit my second serve. I don't want to rush into it and hit a quick double."
Alcaraz remains the man to beat, and after dropping a set to the 14th seed Rublev, he uncorked his best tennis of the tournament to reel off his 22nd straight match win.
The 22-year-old joked to the crowd afterwards that he'd lost a game of golf to old hero Murray the day before, but it will take much more from Norrie to earn a tennis triumph over the man who's now won 18 successive matches at the Championships, with his last loss coming against Jannik Sinner in 2022.
"Andrey is one of the most powerful players we have on tour and is so aggressive with the ball. It's really difficult to face him, he forces you to the limit on each point," said Alcaraz, who's out to become just the fourth man to win back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles on more than one occasion.
"Really happy with the way I moved and played intelligent and smart tactically. A really good match all round."
Earlier, Taylor Fritz had booked his last-eight place when Jordan Thompson's battered body packed up on him after 41 minutes, leaving him to retire when 6-1 3-0 down.
The American fifth seed will next face Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov, who beat Poland's Kamil Majchrzak 6-4 6-2 6-3.
