Novak Djokovic has shown again why he remains invincible at Wimbledon, young rival Carlos Alcaraz graced Centre Court for the first time and Andy Murray's hopes ended in Greek tragedy on another marathon day at the grasscourt Grand Slam.
Chasing records on several fronts, Serb Djokovic left it late to book his place in round four, beating Stan Wawrinka 6-3 6-1 7-6(5) just before Wimbledon's 11pm curfew.
Spain's world No.1 Alcaraz is a round behind, because of this week's rain, but picked up speed with a 6-4 7-6(2) 6-3 victory against Frenchman Alexandre Muller.
Women's top seed Iga Swiatek continued her serene progress, with a third successive straight sets win, this time against Croatian Petra Martic 6-2 7-5.
Second seed Aryna Sabalenka suffered a scare, before hitting back to beat Varvara Gracheva of France 2-6 7-5 6-2.
For British fans, day five fell flat, with Murray unable to finish off fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The 36-year-old led two-sets-to-one after Thursday's late-night action and a wave of Pimms-fuelled optimism hoped he could finish the job on Saturday.
Tsitsipas had other ideas and silenced the partisan Centre Court crowd to prevail 7-6(3) 6-7(2) 4-6 7-6(3) 6-4 on the 10th anniversary of Murray's first Wimbledon crown.
"I'm obviously very disappointed just now," said the Scot, as he processed the loss.
"Obviously, you never know how many opportunities you're going to get to play here. The defeats maybe feel a bit tougher, but to be honest, every year that Wimbledon's not gone how I would like, it's been hard."
Shortly before Murray's demise, British 12th seed Cameron Norrie was bundled out in the second round by in-form American Christopher Eubanks - a player who dabbles with commentating and who is making his Wimbledon debut.
To really rub salt into the wounds, home wildcard Liam Broady, who had stunned fourth seed Casper Ruud, lost to mercurial Canadian Denis Shapovalov 4-6 6-2 7-5 7-5.
Britain's only singles survivor is Katie Boulter, who faces women's champion Elena Rybakina on Saturday.
Broady had the honour of being Britain's best-performing male player this year, although he did not take too much comfort from that fact.
"Kind of makes it worse that we've all lost on the same day, as well," he said. "Probably would have felt a bit better, if we'd staggered what days we lost on, whereas now, it's a bit of a Debbie Downer, isn't it?"
Alcaraz mixed power hitting, fearsome returning and delicate drop shots to beat Muller, declaring afterwards that he belonged on the "really beautiful court" and hoped to play Djokovic in the final on Sunday week.
"I feel like I'm ready to play more matches, to play more great matches on that court," the US Open champion said, after reaching the third round, where he will play Chile's Nicolas Jarry.
"It would be amazing to play a final here in Wimbledon, even better, if is against Novak obviously."
A hectic day in the women's draw ended with a shock under the Court One roof, as 32nd seed Marie Bouzkova outlasted fifth seed Caroline Garcia 7-6(0) 4-6 7-5.
Reuters
