On his first match point, Flavio Cobolli stepped up and unleashed a 135 mph first serve down the T that landed on the line and sent a puff of chalk into the air on No. 1 Court at Wimbledon.
Fifth-seeded opponent Alex De Minaur could barely touch the serve, and the Australian's weak return didn't even go past his own service line.
Cobolli reacted by leaping into the air and pumping his fist. He launched a ball into the crowd before moving forward to shake hands with De Minaur.
Then the Italian moved on to the performance he'd been waiting for.
Cobolli put his racket down and went back out into the center of the court and launched himself into the most iconic celebration in soccer: Twirling in midair like Cristiano Ronaldo, he then landed on the grass with his feet planted wide and jerked his arms down by his side.
The mostly English crowd knew just what was going on and shouted "Siuuu" along with Cobolli.
"I love his celebration. I love him," said Cobolli, who was once a promising soccer player himself in Roma's youth system. "I will cheer for Portugal [against Spain at the World Cup] tonight because of Ronaldo."
In his previous match, Cobolli performed a surfing celebration borrowed from Brazil striker Matheus Cunha.
While four-time champion Italy failed to qualify for a third consecutive men's World Cup, the country has no lack of sports stars, and a few of them were in the spotlight at the grass-court Grand Slam on Monday.
Cobolli's 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over a fellow top-10 player to reach the quarterfinals was a statement win as he attempts to back up his run to the French Open final.
At the same time over on Centre Court, Jasmine Paolini ended the run of rising Filipina player Alexandra Eala with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory to return to the last eight at a Grand Slam for the first time since back-to-back runs to the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals two years ago.
Watching Paolini from the Royal Box was Kimi Antonelli, the 19-year-old Italian driver who leads the Formula One standings for Mercedes.
Coinciding with Italy's troubles in soccer, Antonelli and defending Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner -- who plays Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday for a spot in the semifinals -- have become the country's most popular athletes.
Cobolli, too, is rapidly gaining attention after his run to the Paris final, where he pushed Alexander Zverev to five sets.
De Minaur led 5-2 in the second set and was up a break twice in the third. But Cobolli wouldn't be deterred.
After the victory over De Minaur, Cobolli's grandfather had to go and find a new house for their team in the Wimbledon village since they had only reserved through the first week.
Now they can maintain Flavio's nightly routine during the fortnight: dinner cooked by his father and coach, Stefano, and shared with his best friend, Watford midfielder Edoardo Bove, before watching a World Cup match and downing a tub of gelato (pear and white chocolate is Cobolli's flavor for the tournament).
"An Italian family give us all the house here in Wimbledon," Cobolli said. "So it's really cool."
Cobolli's quarterfinal opponent will be Arthur Fery -- the 23-year-old British player who grew up just five minutes from the All England Club.
Meanwhile, No. 6 seed Taylor Fritz defeated No. 10 Alexander Bublik 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4 in 108 minutes to make his third straight Wimbledon quarterfinal. He's the fourth American man in the past 40 years to reach three or more consecutive quarterfinals at the All England Club, joining Pete Sampras, Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi.
"It's a big thing in a Grand Slam to get through the matches without killing yourself on the court," Fritz said. "I had a tough one in the last round and it feels good to have a smooth one."
Fritz improved to 11-2 on grass this season; his 47 grass-court match wins this decade are the most on the men's tour since 2020.
In the nightcap, the second-seeded Zverev failed in his bid to beat the clock on Centre Court and will resume his round-of-16 match with Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday.
Zverev did not walk out until 8:41 p.m. local time after Fery's marathon victory over fellow wild card Grigor Dimitrov.
While Zverev raced through the first set in 42 minutes, play had to be stopped at 10:55 p.m. by tournament referee Denise Parnell ahead of the 11 p.m. curfew.
Zverev was in control with the score 6-4, 7-5, 3-3; Lehecka appeared more frustrated and seemed to question the decision by Parnell before the players walked off.
ESPN Research, The Associated Press and PA contributed to this report.