David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic.
TENNIS
The first time David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic met at a major was back in the semi-finals at the 2007 US Open.
It was uncharted territory for Ferrer, while Djokovic - then 20 - had only recently started to really make his mark, having also reached the last four earlier in the year at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Djokovic was able to get the job done that day at Flushing Meadows, dropping only 11 games in the process.
And although he could not get past Roger Federer in the final, it would only be another four months before the current world No 1 was winning at Melbourne Park for the first of his five slams.
It was not so much that Ferrer's career stalled in the succeeding years as that the Fab Four of Djokovic, Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray made it almost impossible for him to take the final step.
The 30-year-old admitted as much last week, noting he was effectively only seeded fourth here by default because of the long-term injury to countryman Nadal.
Be that as it may, Ferrer is through to the Open semi-finals very much on merit, having come back from two sets down to beat fellow Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro, in the quarters.
And his win-loss record of 5-9 against defending champion Djokovic is none too shabby, although it slips to a far less convincing 0-4 in the slams, with Djokovic dropping only one set in those four matches.
"Novak, he's the No 1 in the world," said Ferrer.
"He's the favourite to win the Australian Open. I will have to play better [than against Almagro] to win tomorrow, for sure."
That's a given.
But red-hot favourite Djokovic knows he will also need to do plenty of things right if he is to beat Ferrer.
"I need to be aggressive on the court, that's for sure.
"I need to step in and try to be in control of the match," he said. AAP