At 1-6, 2-6, 4-5 down, Diego Schwartzman could be forgiven for thinking it might not be his day on Monday at Roland Garros.
But, instead, the Argentine was just getting started.
The Rio Open presented by Claro titlist broke serve at 4-5 in both the third and fourth sets en route to a remarkable comeback, beating Kevin Anderson 1-6, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(0), 6-2 to reach his first quarter-final at the clay-court Grand Slam championship.
"It's definitely one of the most emotional matches that I can say I have played," said Schwartzman.
Schwartzman, who had never previously come from two sets to love down, became the eighth Argentine to reach multiple Grand Slam quarter-finals in the Open Era after three hours and 51 minutes, withstanding 69 Anderson winners en route to victory.
Schwartzman improves to 2-5 against Top 10 players at Grand Slam events, having also beaten Marin Cilic at the 2017 US Open.
The 25-year-old will face 10-time champion Rafael Nadal for a semi-final spot. Schwartzman is yet to beat Nadal in five FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings.
"I know it's [Nadal's] second home, and it's going to be a really tough match," said Schwartzman. "I need to recover well, because against him I need to run a lot and do my best."
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Anderson won eight of the first nine games, taking 2-0 leads in both the first and second sets in a dominant start against Schwartzman, who faced break points in the six of his first seven service games.
"I was a little bit upset because at the beginning of the match I didn't expect the first two sets [to be so one-sided]," said Schwartzman. "I was thinking about my first three matches here, and I started the match with confidence. And then after one hour I was down 6-1, 6-2... Maybe that just helped me to be focused."
Schwartzman, who at 5'7" is 13 inches shorter than Anderson (6'8"), continued to battle from the baseline, recovering from 15/40 at 2-2, but could not convert five break points in the sixth (three) and eighth games (two). When Anderson served for the match at 5-4, he came within two points of victory, but made three forehand errors to gift Schwartzman a route back. The Argentine took his chance and struck a forehand winner in the 12th game to clinch the 53-minute set.
"After the second set I tried to start the third set... more aggressive, trying to play good points because he was dominating the match in the first two sets," Schwartzman.
Costly double faults from Schwartzman, in the opening game of the fourth set, handed the initiative back to Anderson, but consecutive errors from the South African levelled the score at 1-1.
The US Open runner-up quickly regained his break advantage in the following game before serving for the match, as he had in the third set, at 5-4. Once again, Schwartzman refused to lay down. The Argentine broke to love with a mix of flair and aggression to level the set at 5-5, before dominating a pivotal fourth-set tie-break to force a deciding set.
A nervy opening sequence saw both men drop their opening two service games, before Schwartzman made the decisive move. The World No. 12 broke serve to lead 3-2, before holding serve and firing a forehand passing shot winner to earn a double break. Schwartzman held serve to love, converting his first match point with just his second ace of the match.