UPDATE 8pm: World No.11 and Brisbane International third seed Grigor Dimitrov has saved two match points in a nail-biting third set tiebreak , coming back from a set down to topple Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 3-6 6-4 7-6(8).
The pair last met on Australian soil at Melbourne Park in 2012 where Dimitrov battled past the man four years his senior in lengthy five-setter.
As was the case then, the match went the distance and the young Bulgarian came up trumps, recovering from an out-of-sorts start to notch his first win for 2015.
Down 1-4 in the tiebreak, Chardy reeled off five consecutive points to get to 6-4 before back-to-back double faults left the door ajar.
Dimitrov sealed his third match point opportunity when his opponent pushed a groundstroke long, booking a quarterfinal with Slovakian Martin Klizan, who himself saved six match point in an upset over seventh seed Alexandr Dolgopolov earlier on Wednesday.
The pair had split their previous two meetings, with the 2013 Brisbane International finalist admitting he was a little off the pace early against a tough opponent.
“I felt that I fought really hard, but still I think a little bit far from the game, a little bit rusty,” Dimitrov said.
“But I was happy I was on top of the match, and I knew that I had to play a little bit better to win.”
But it was looking shaky early for the Bulgarian.
In the fifth game of the first set, Chardy pounced for a break and despite serious pressure from Dimitrov, consolidated to take a surprise 4-2 lead.
Serving at 5-3, Chardy brought up a third set point with a backhand return winner – his 11th overall for the set – before a limp unforced error from the Bulgarian finished halfway up the net to gift his opponent the set.
In a sign of things to come, the first game of the third went for 12 minutes, with Chardy saving multiple break points to hold before the match pushed towards a tiebreak climax.
Widely regarded as the next in line to win a Grand Slam, Dimitrov broke through for his maiden quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open last year before bettering it with a semifinal at Wimbledon.
While a fair chunk of the tennis world appears in a hurry to see the 23-year-old lift major silverware, the man himself is a little more circumspect, at least externally.
“In a way, I don’t want to be greedy now for that, but I’m really happy that I was injury-free and I could complete a really good season with a lot of good wins,” he said.
Nevertheless a top-five spot is the goal for 2015, and a realistic one at that considering a surge to world No.8 in October.
“In order to do that, you need to win slams and big tournaments. That’s just proven. There is no other way,” he said.
“There is no shortcuts. Play your best tennis, give your heart out, and anything can happen.”