Kiwi Michael Venus and German doubles partner Tim Putz have been ousted from the Australian Open, losing to Australian pair Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis in a quarter-finals clash that pushed the limits of tennis etiquette - and beyond.
In front of an overzealous home crowd at Melbourne Park, local heroes Kyrgios and Kokkinakis reached the semis with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory, putting themselves just one victory away from a final appearance at their home Grand Slam.
The win sees the Australian pair add another scalp to their collection at this year's tournament, with Venus and Putz seeded sixth.
They also defeated the tournament's top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia in the second round, and 15th seeds Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador and Greece's Ariel Behar in the third.
In an even start to the first set, the two pairs largely held serve throughout, until the scores were locked at 5-5, when Kyrgios and Kokkinakis were able to break serve and give themselves the chance to take the first set in the next game, which they took.
But in a second-set fightback, Venus and Putz clawed their way to a 5-2 advantage, breaking both Kyrgios' and Kokkinakis' serves, as they levelled the scores, much to the dismay of the raucous home crowd.
The Kiwi and his partner failed to capitalise on three set points on Kokkinakis' serve, but squared the ledger one game later, as Venus rallied from three breakpoints down to hold serve.
But for all of the action on court, the off-court antics of the crowd - whipped into a frenzy by Kyrgios - clearly impacted the performance of the Kiwi and his partner.
Such was the level of noise inside Melbourne Park's Show Court Arena, the chair umpire had to repeatedly ask the crowd to allow Venus and Putz to serve without interference.
Kyrgios took particular issue with Venus' ball toss before service, remonstrating that the Kiwi should be called for a time penalty.
"This is unprecedented," said former Aussie tennis star Sam Groth on Channel 9 coverage. "Have you ever seen a tennis match go this way? I haven’t.
"Kyrgios and Venus are completely at each other right now here in the third set."
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis broke Putz's serve early in the third set and Kyrgios held for a 4-1 lead, before Venus held to bring the score back to 4-2.
When Kokkinakis held serve at 5-2, the Australian pair were just a game away from reaching the semi-finals. Putz held for 5-3, giving Kyrgios the chance to serve for the match.
With three matchpoints, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis only needed two, as they sealed their spot in the tournament's final four and sent the home crowd into raptures.
"I'm not finished, I want to win this f***ing thing!" Kyrgios told adoring supporters afterwards.
He and Kokkinakis will meet Argentina's Horacio Zeballos and Spain's Marcel Granollers in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, Venus also suffered mixed doubles defeat with compatriot Erin Routliffe, falling to Croatia's Ivan Dodig and France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-4 6-2 in the quarter-finals.
