Novak Djokovic moved through to his seventh Wimbledon final after a peculiar match against Denis Shapovalov – the Canadian shotmaker who did a convincing impersonation of the girl with the curl.
When Shapovalov was good – as when breaking Djokovic in the third game or reeling off 15 straight service points in the middle of that first set – he was very, very good.
But when he was bad – which, unfortunately for his many admirers, was on any of the big points – he was horrid.
Djokovic ending up playing the straight man in a double-act of contrasts. This was an Ernie Wise of a performance, allowing his opponent to take all the limelight while offering unfussy solidity.
The world No1 made only 15 unforced errors in a hugely controlled and unflashy performance, walking away with a 7-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory that gives him an excellent chance of drawing level with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal with 20 major titles on Sunday.
Djokovic perhaps didn't have the chance to show off the most stylish elements of his own repertoire. But then, it must have been a challenge to stay balanced when you had so little idea what was coming at you on any given shot: a 100mph bullet of a groundstroke, or a total shank.
Experience makes all the difference in these moments. Djokovic has seen most things in this sport. He knew that he had to sit in and give no freebies, while Shapovalov's crowd-pleasing game was eventually revealed to be all fur coat and no underwear.
In fact, this may prove to be a useful rehearsal for the final, because Matteo Berrettini – who had beaten Hubert Hurkacz in four sets earlier in the day – will tee off with similar venom on his serve and forehand on Sunday.
Shapovalov had the perfect opportunity to claim the first set when he served at 5-4. At 30-30, he drew a weak retrieval shot out of Djokovic by pulverising another backhand into the corner, and rumbled forward to put the short ball away. Except that this routine forehand flew a good foot long. A break-back now seemed inevitable, and indeed Djokovic soon sealed it by harrying Shapovalov into another error.
The ensuing first-set tie-break was classic Shapovalov, as he somehow contrived to lose all five of his service points, one of them with the worst attempt at a drop-shot you will ever see.
Djokovic – who was tight and anxious, probably because he felt at the mercy of Shapovalov's roulette wheel – was almost as shaky, hitting a double-fault and a couple of uncharacteristically feeble groundstrokes. But never mind. A couple of steady points was all it took.
The second set? Well, you probably don't need me to tell me that it was more of the same. Shapovalov had 0-40 in Djokovic's second service game, and 15-40 in his third. That's five break points. Did he take one? Did he fiddlesticks. He never even looked like doing so, to the great dismay of a crowd that hoped to see this match develop into the classic contrast of styles that it promised to be.
By the end of the set, Djokovic was beginning to find his usual self-assurance. The two lobs he sent up to earn a break point in the 11th game were insanely brilliant. Then Shapovalov double-faulted, natch.
At 22, Shapovalov will learn how to handle these sorts of occasions better. He played a high level for most of this match, and had won only two fewer points than Djokovic by the end of the second set.
But until he can pick the right options more consistently, especially when the big prizes are on the line, he will never receive the rewards commensurate his rich talent and extraordinary entertainment value.
Shapovalov left the court in tears. This was a fine opportunity which he had been unable to grasp. One break point converted from 11 attempts was a telling statistic, and went to the heart of where he needs to improve.
"The scoreline doesn't say enough about Denis's performance and match," said a generous Djokovic in his on-court interview with Rishi Persad. "He was serving for the first set, probably the better player for most of the second set and had many chances.
"I'd like to give him a big round of applause for everything he has done today and also these few weeks. This has been his first semi-final of a Grand Slam. You could see he was emotional. We will see a lot of him in the future. He is a great player."
But it was Djokovic, again, who closed out his fifth successive straight-sets win of the tournament. As he heads into the final against Berrettini, the only set he has dropped was the very first one, on the opening day of the fortnight, against British 19-year-old Jack Draper.
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