With the 2010 Australian Open now heading towards the business end, Day 11 at Melbourne Park on Thursday could be one of the best yet with both women's semis and the last-four battle between Grand Slam maidens Andy Murray and Marin Cilic.
There's plenty to like about the women's semi-finals, between top-seeded American Serena Williams and Chinese 16th seed Li Na, and Belgian Justine Henin and Li's compatriot Zheng Jie but it is the Murray-Cilic match-up in the evening that will dominate the focus.
No.5 seed Murray is not only the first British male to reach the last four at the Australian Open in 33 years but he is also bidding to become the first man from that part of the world to win a Grand Slam since Fred Perry's triumph at the 1936 US Open.
But if the 14th seed's campaign so far is any indication Murray could be in for a long night at Rod Laver Arena, Cilic having triumphed three times in four rounds in five sets to become the first Croatian to reach the semis of this tournament.
The pair has clashed four times previously, with Murray edging the head-to-head count 3-1 but Cilic won their most recent encounter at last year's US Open and took their first match-up in the Davis Cup three years ago the distance.
Murray is favoured to progress to his second major final, having reached the decider at Flushing Meadows two years ago only to be thumped by world No.1 Roger Federer and he is confident he can prevail.
"I played him (Cilic) quite a few times on the tour and had good results against him, except there (at last year's US Open)," Murray said after winning his quarter-final against Rafael Nadal on Tuesday night when the defending champion retired midway through the third set with a knee injury.
"I'll try and play like I did tonight (against Nadal). If I do that, I've got a good chance of winning."
Cilic meanwhile wasn't sure how he'll handle fronting up again having spent more than 18 hours on court so far against Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, local Bernard Tomic, Stanislas Wawrinka from Switzerland, Argentine Juan Martin del Potro and American Andy Roddick.
"I don't know (how I will go), today (against Roddick) was (a) tough match mentally," Cilic said.
"It's not easy psychologically to be able to bring your best tennis when you need it."
"But for Murray or Nadal ... it's gonna take also a lot of energy out of me so we'll see how I'm gonna be able to survive."
With a men's doubles match opening the day at Rod Laver Arena, the first women's semi-final won't start until at least 1:30pm (AEDT), when world No.1 and defending champion Williams backs up against Li.
Already a four-time winner of the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, having triumphed in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009, Williams will go into the clash as a short-priced favourite to reach the final for a fifth time.
Williams has won three of her four previous battles against Li, including in the first round at Melbourne Park four years ago but has been pushed to three sets in three of those four clashes, with Li's only success coming in Stuttgart two years ago.
But while Li will go in as the underdog in her first Grand Slam semi-final she'll also be feeling confident after