Unbowed and for now unbroken, Rafael Nadal continues to defy the realms of possibility. Although questions of the 36-year-old’s creaking body returned with sharp and shocking focus on Centre Court, as he took a medical timeout and trailed a bold and confident Taylor Fritz by two sets to one, he emerged to extend his winning run at the grand slams to 18 matches and hopes of a calendar grand slam alive.

Almost three hours after receiving treatment off-court and shaking his head at his box, Nadal stood yelling into the crowds. From the vulnerabilities of the opening exchanges, where Nadal appeared beatable, even human, a fifth-set tiebreak demanded the full extent of his resolve to put Fritz away.

Through four rounds at Wimbledon, Nadal had appeared completely serene but he returned to the quarter-final stage to face not only the aggressive return game of a dangerous Fritz but also the lingering worries his weary physique now pose him. Fritz had chances in the fourth, as the momentum swung in both directions, but putting away these great champions and the aura they carry on stages like Centre Court remains one of the hardest challenges in sport.

Fritz, the 24-year-old American, was offered a cruel reminder of that, as Nadal forced the fifth and extended the battle into a fourth hour. Although there was not the same sense of inevitability that fuelled Novak Djokovic’s rally from two sets down on Tuesday - Nadal’s condition did not leave such guarantees - the difference between experience and belief looked to be decisive again.

A more ruthless Nadal would have put Fritz away after seizing upon tightness from the American to break at 4-3, but as the Spaniard stood, hands on knees, finishing the task would prove arduous. Fritz broke back, steadied to get to six games, and demanded Nadal to produce another level. He found it in a thrilling deciding tiebreak, bludgeoning the ball from the back of the court, to pull off the impossible once again.

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