Melbourne: Nicolas Kiefer clinched his first Grand Slam semi-final appearance with an epic five-set win over Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
The 21st seeded Kiefer won a volatile quarter-final, 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 6-7 (1/7), 8-6 in the longest match of the Open in 15 years at 4hours 48minutes.
The German prevailed in an energy-sapping 96 minute final set on a sun-baked court to win through to a Friday semi-final against either world No 1 Roger Federer or Russian fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko.
Argentine fourth seed David Nalbandian takes on unseeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the other semi-final on Thursday.
"There was so much pressure from so many quarters, it was a very close match," said Kiefer, who reached his first Grand Slam semi-final in his 35th major tournament.
"Some points were not so easy, there was so much tension on the court, but it was a great match, thanks to Seb."
It was the longest match since Boris Becker and Omar Camporese played for 5hour 11minutes in the 1991 tournament.
Kiefer was given two code violation warnings for verbal abuse after raging at the Brazilian chair umpire Carlos Bernardes over line calls that threatened to tip him over the edge, but Grosjean could not capitalise.
The match boiled over in the 12th game of the fifth set when Grosjean called for the tournament referee after claiming Kiefer had thrown his racquet at the ball as he was attempting to retrieve at 40-30 on his serve.
But the point stood for Kiefer. Grosjean went on to hold serve to 6-6.
Kiefer and Grosjean traded a total of 18 service breaks in the see-sawing clash with Kiefer looking to be on top in the first and third sets and Grosjean pegging him back in the second and fourth sets before the epic final set.
Kiefer started the stronger, winning the opening set after breaking Grosjean's serve in the sixth game with the Frenchman overhitting a smash out of court on break point.
But Grosjean hit break with three consecutive service games to take the second set to love.
Again the match swung with Kiefer breaking Grosjean twice early in the third set but dropped his serve in the fourth game to lead 3-1.
The key point came at 30-15 in the 10th game when Kiefer ran down a Grosjean drop shot for a winner and on his fourth set point he won when the Frenchman netted a backhand.
But no clear victor emerged in the fourth set with five service breaks.
Kiefer was warned by the tournament supervisor for an apparent audible obscenity he shouted out in frustration early in the fourth set tiebreaker as he was treated for a left foot which was strapped.
But the delay didn't help Kiefer who dropped his opening service of the final set after great retrieving by Grosjean.
Yet again, Kiefer broke back in the fourth game when Grosjean's backhand was fractionally out.
The breakthrough came in the 14th game on the second match point when tried Grosjean netted to give Kiefer victory.
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