Jack Draper came out on top against Ryan Peniston in an all-British Eastbourne International quarter-final on Thursday afternoon.
Twenty-six-year-old Peniston had caught the eye with a promising start to the grass court season and began the last-eight clash in perfect fashion by breaking Draper straight away.
The world number 108 was also on the back foot early in the second set, but that would prove to be Peniston's second and final break of the contest in a 3-6 3-6 loss.
Peniston had only finished his three-set last-16 clash with Spain's Pedro Martinez on Thursday morning due to bad light the day before, and the Queen's Club quarter-finalist's fatigue was on show in the latter stages of the contest.
However, there was disappointment for British number one Cameron Norrie, who fell victim to Maxime Cressy's superb serve-and-volley match in a quarter-final defeat.
Number one seed Norrie went down 5-7 5-7 to the big-serving Cressy, whose sliced backhands at the net proved too strong for the home favourite to handle on the day.
© Reuters
Norrie managed to save three match points against Cressy, who came up with 10 aces on the day, but the American would ultimately seal a deserved win to make the final four.
Cressy will now meet Draper in the latter's first-ever ATP tour semi-final, while fellow American Taylor Fritz came out on top against a fiery Alexander Bublik.
Norrie now enters Wimbledon having won just one of his matches on grass, and there was further quarter-final heartache for the Brits later on Thursday.
In the women's tournament, Harriet Dart was unable to keep her memorable Eastbourne run going, as the Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova claimed a 6-3 6-4 victory.
Play was briefly stopped in the match as a spectator was taken ill in the crowd during the second set, where Kvitova broke early but then missed two opportunities to close the match.
However, Dart eventually netted to bow out of the tournament, although the world number 103 can expect a rise up the WTA rankings next week after defeating Madison Brengle, Jil Teichmann and Marta Kostyuk on the grass.
Jelena Ostapenko and Camila Giorgi also booked their spots in the semi-finals on Thursday, while Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko withdrew due to an elbow injury as Beatriz Haddad Maia advanced to the final four.
Ben Knapton
