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.
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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.
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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.