World No-1 Andy Murray hopes of winning a first Australian Open title ended with a shock defeat to No-50 Germany's Mischa Zverev in the fourth round.
The 29-year-old German, a contemporary of Murray from junior days, was ranked outside the world's top 1,000 two years ago after a succession of injury problems.
Murray dropped serve eight times as Zverev won 7-5 5-7 6-2 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena. It is the Briton's earliest defeat in Melbourne since 2009, and the lowest-ranked player he has lost to at a Grand Slam since the 2006 Australian Open.
With Novak knocked out in the last round, most of the pundits have given Andy the edge to win his maiden Australian title of which he will have to wait another 12 months.
The last time the top two seeds failed to reach the quarter-finals of a slam was at Roland Garros in 2004.
Mischa - the elder brother to 19year-old sensation Alexander Zverev - took the first set 7-5, but Murray seemed to get back on track after taking the second by the same scoreline.
But Zverev was relentless in his approach and took the next two 6-2, 6-4 to produce the sporting shock of 2017 so far.
After the match, he said: “Honestly I don't know how I did it. I was in a little coma, I served and volleyed my way through. I don't know how I did it. Somehow I did it."
Zverev will face Roger Federer or Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals.
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