Andy Murray’s reign as British Wimbledon champion ended on Wednesday as the third seed came out flat and paid the price in a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 quarter-final loss to Grigor Dimitrov.
The Bulgarian 11th seed schooled his friend in two hours to leave Murray without a title in the year since he became the first British man to win a Wimbledon singles title in 77 years.
Murray admitted he was off the boil and vowed to work harder to lift his level. Dimitrov heads to a semi-final with 9-0 grass record in 2014.
Top seed Novak Djokovic survived a swoon in the second and third sets before rallying past Croatian Marin Cilic 6-1, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-2.
The Serb inflicted a tenth straight defeat in their series on Cilic, whose big game produced only 10 aces.
Djokovic will next play Dimitrov, against whom he has won three of four meetings.
Roger Federer moved closer to a possible eighth title as he beat Swiss compatriot Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-4 for a 14th win from 16 matches between the pair.
The fourth seed will next play Milos Raonic as the Canadian won a serving duel with Australian wild card Nick Krygios 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), ending with his 39th ace after almost two and a half hours.
In the women’s draw, French Open finalist Simona Halep and Canadian Eugenie Bouchard both dispatched German opposition to set up a Thursday semi-final.
Third seed Halep hammered 2013 finalist Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 6-0 while Bouchard became the only woman to reach all three grand slam semi-finals so far this season with her 6-3, 6-4 win over ninth seed Angelique Kerber.
Halep beat Bouchard last March at Indian Wells.
Bouchard will move into the top 10 for the first time as a result of her victory, her second in a month against Kerber.