The giant Argentine Juan Martin del Potro played through the pain barrier to reach his first Wimbledon tennis semi-final with a straight sets win over the Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer.
The eighth-seeded Del Potro emerged unscathed from a nasty fall in the first game of the quarter-final that required several minutes' treatment and briefly appeared to leave him in tears.
The 24-year-old gritted his teeth through two hours and 16 minutes of gruelling action to qualify for a semi-final against Novak Djokovic.
The world number one beat the seventh seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6 6-3 6-3. Djokovic and del Potro have yet to lose a set.
Djokovic has an 8-3 winning record over del Potro, though the Argentine beat the Serb in last year's bronze medal match at Wimbledon.
