London: Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis stunned former champion Lleyton Hewitt 6-1 5-7 7-6 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon on Wednesday.
The 18th seed won nine of the first 10 games and although Hewitt chiselled his way back into the match Baghdatis held his nerve to set up a clash with either second seed Rafael Nadal or Finn Jarko Nieminen.
"I was a bit tight after losing the second set from being two breaks up," the 21-year-old said. "It's amazing for me, everything's happened so fast, the emotions are unbelievable and I hope I can keep going."
Baghdatis announced himself on the world stage earlier this year when he reached the Australian Open final, losing to Roger Federer, but his run here has come out of the blue.
After an early defeat at the French Open he said he was full of doubts and until a run to the semi-finals at Den Bosch he had never won a Tour match on grass.
Hewitt, on the other hand, came into their first career meeting on the back of a nine-match winning streak on the surface having claimed a fourth title at Queen's Club.
The 2002 champion was powerless in the first set, however, as Baghdatis unleashed a ferocious onslaught that threatened to blow the Australian off Centre Court.
Baghdatis seemed to be cruising when he led by two breaks in the second set but his game suddenly went off the rails. Hewitt took full advantage to break serve three times on the way to taking the second set.
Despite being far from his best Hewitt looked a marginal favourite when the third set went to a tiebreak, but Baghdatis upped his game and ripped a superb backhand service return down the line to move ahead.
Hewitt's resolve ebbed away in the fourth set as a fired-up Baghdatis romped away to a famous victory. "It just didn't happen for me out there today, " said Hewitt.
"He came out hitting the ball very clean and I couldn't get into the match. "Even when I did get back into it I wasn't playing very well but I managed to hang in there."
Nadal and Nieminen will play their quarter-final on Thursday after rain delayed Wednesday's play.
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