Pablo Carreno Busta will play Alexander Zverev in the US Open semi-final after edging a tense five-set thriller against Denis Shapovalov.
The 29-year-old, who advanced to the quarter-finals thanks to Novak Djokovic's disqualification in round four, found himself a set down to the 12th seed.
But after coming through two gruelling tiebreaks, Carreno Busta shrugged off a fourth-set bagel to clinch the deciding set in comfortable fashion, completing a 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 0-6, 6-3 victory in over four hours at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It is the second Grand Slam semi-final of his career, last reaching this point in 2017 at Flushing Meadows, and he will face no.5 seed Alexander Zverev for a place in Sunday's final.
Shapovalov had made history coming into the tie by becoming the first Canadian man to reach the quarter-finals at the US Open. But the ambition of the youngster meant he would not be content with just that achievement.
Still, it could not be ignored that Carreno Busta had the considerable advantage of playing just one set of tennis in the fourth round after Novak Djokovic's shock disqualification. Shapovalov, meanwhile, battled past Taylor Fritz in five.
But if anything, the 21-year-old looked more rejuvenated and energetic in the first set, needing only 38 minutes to take the first set 6-3 after securing an break in the eighth game.
The statistics were weighted heavily in his favour: 14 winners, six aces and a first serve in rate of 80 per cent, as well as wining 10 of 11 net points. Carreno Busta was doing nothing wrong. but nothing extraordinary either.
With something to chase in the second set, the Spaniard kept his composure despite a flurry of four consecutive breaks between them and edged the tiebreak 7-5 to level the match in sets with two hours of play gone.
The third set could not have been closer with several changes in the momentum and it was no surprise to see it head to a tiebreak after Shapovalov fought valiantly back from 4-2 down.
But Carreno Busta's steady nerve proved valuable against his erratic opponent and overcame a back problem in the fourth set to clinch the final set 6-3 in what was arguably the match of the tournament.
