No man has waited longer for his first Grand Slam semi-final than Sam Querrey, through to the final four at the 42nd attempt.
For the second year in a row, the American beat the world No.1 and defending champion at The Championships, ousting an ailing Andy Murray 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-1, having beaten Novak Djokovic in the third round in 2016.
Querrey will face Marin Cilic on Friday for a place in the gentlemen’s singles final. On his fourth consecutive appearance in the last eight, the Croatian reached his first Wimbledon semi-final with a 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 victory on No.1 Court against Gilles Muller.
Roger Federer remains in contention for an eighth Wimbledon title after avenging last year's semi-final defeat at the hands of Milos Raonic by dispatching the Canadian in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(4).
The 18-time Grand Slam champion will face Tomas Berdych on Friday after the Czech advanced following three-time former champion Novak Djokovic's retirement with an elbow injury while trailing 7-6(2), 2-0.
In the gentlemen’s doubles, top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers saved a match point in the fourth set to fend off Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 6-1. The Finnish-Australian duo will face Lukas Kubot and Marcelo Melo in the semis after the No.4 seeds ended the run of British wild cards Ken and Neal Skupski in the quarter-finals, 7-6(11), 6-4, 6-4.
Croatian duo Nikoa Mektic and Franko Skugor will face Olivier Marach and Mate Pavic in the other semi-final after beating Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski 6-7(8), 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-5.
The ladies’ doubles semi-finals are almost set, with No.2 seeds Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova surviving a stern examination from Casey Dellacqua and Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. The Russian duo will take on No.12 seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke for a place in the final after the German-Czech pairing upset No.3 seeds Yung-Jan Chan and Martina Hingis 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Hao-Ching Chan and Monica Niculescu are also through to the semis after beating teenagers CiCi Bellis and Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-4. The Taipei-Romanian tandem will take on unseeded Makoto Ninomiya and Renata Vorakova, who dispatched Kiki Mladenovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-4.
Finland’s Henri Kontinen and Britain's Heather Watson kept their mixed doubles title defence alive, winning an entertaining battle against No.4 seeds Ivan Dodig and Sania Mirza 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. They next meet French Open champions Rohan Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski.
The all-British team of Ken Skupski and Jocelyn Rae ground out a 5-7, 6-4, 9-7 upset of No.12 seeds Max Mirnyi and Makarova to set a quarter-final date with top seeds Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis.
No.2 seeds Bruno Soares and Elena Vesnina fought back to down No.15 seeds Michael Venus and Barbora Krejcikova 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 and will now face Andre Begemann and Nicole Melichar, with Mate Pavic and Lyudmyla Kichenok to take on Marcelo Demoliner and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez for the remaining semi-final berth.
Junior top seeds Corentin Moutet and Kayla Day both advanced with straight sets wins, France’s Moutet easing past Menelaos Efstathiou 6-3, 6-2 and American Day reaching the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over India’s Zeel Desai.
Katie Swan’s 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 loss to No.2 seed Whitney Osuigwe – one of five Americans through to the last eight – ended British interest in the girl’s singles, but Aidan McHugh and George Loffhagen are still in contention in the boys’ singles after booking their spots in the third round.
McHugh returned after Tuesday's washout to finish the job against Marko Miladinovic 6-0, 7-6(4), while Loffhagen beat No.9 seed Rudolf Molleker 6-4, 6-4.
