Rising star Alex De Minaur suffered his first loss of 2019 as veteran Jo-Wilfried Tsonga claimed a hard-fought 6-4 7-6 (7-2) victory in a high-quality quarter-final in Brisbane on Friday.
Tsonga and De Minaur traded early breaks in the opening set but the big Frenchman earned a decisive second service break in the ninth game.
The Aussie teenager showed his trademark fighting spirit in a tight second set, pushing Tsonga to his limit in the sixth game.
Tsonga, who is on the comeback trail from a serious knee injury, also showed plenty of grit to save multiple break points as a desperate De Minaur gave the home crowd hope.
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But the 33-year-old used all of his experience in the tiebreaker to secure a straight-sets triumph and book a semi-final showdown against Daniil Medvedev.
Kei Nishikori and Jeremy Chardy will meet in Saturday's other semi-final.
De Minaur announced his arrival as a rising star of the men’s game by making the semi-finals in Brisbane 12 months ago.
Despite failing to match last year’s effort, the 19-year-old can take plenty of confidence out of his performances ahead of the Australian Open later this month.
“I’m continuously learning,” De Minaur said.
“It was a completely different scenario coming in here this year for me.
“I think I handled it pretty well.”
Earlier, Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic went down in a seesawing affair with Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova.
The 25-year-old lost 6-1 1-6 6-1 to the world number eight.
Pliskova nailed eight aces to win the first set in just 27 minutes before Tomljanovic rallied, claiming the second set in a procession the other way.
Momentum then swung back to Pliskova who cruised through the final set to move into the semi-finals where she will take on Croatia's Donna Vekic.
