Novak Djokovic overcame the death of his grandfather, and a determined challenge from Alexandr Dolgopolov, to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters.
The world number one learned of the bereavement just hours before his match and had seemed clearly affected by the news as he lost the first set in sloppy fashion against his Ukrainian opponent.
However, he regrouped well and ultimately clinched a 2-6 6-1 6-4 triumph to progress at the clay-court tournament.
Walking on to court with his head bowed, Djokovic cut a wistful-looking figure and struggled to find any momentum early on.
He missed a number of easy shots and twice lost his serve as Dolgopolov took advantage of his poor form to edge a set ahead.
But an early break in the second helped the Serb regroup and suddenly it was Dolgopolov whose groundstrokes were becoming increasingly erratic.
With Djokovic having levelled the match with some ease, the players were forced off in the early stages of the decider as heavy rain came down.
On their return the set stayed on serve until Djokovic claimed the decisive break in the ninth game before seeing out the contest on his own delivery.
The world number one crouched down on his haunches after sealing victory and then signalled to the sky with both hands for a few moments before making his way to the net.
Djokovic next faces Dutchman Robin Haase who convincingly beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-2 6-3 - the Brazilian unable to build on his impressive straight sets win over David Ferrer on Wednesday.
Reigning champion Rafael Nadal enjoyed a much more serene passage than Djokovic into the final eight as he swept aside Mikhail Kukushkin for the loss of just two games.
The Spaniard dominated from the off and needed just one hour to ease past the Kazakh as he wrapped up a one-sided 6-1 6-1 triumph.
There will be an all-French quarter-final on Friday as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon both came through their third-round clashes.
Tsonga proved too strong for Fernando Verdasco as he beat the Spanish 13th seed 7-6 (9-7) 6-2, while Simon got the better of Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic in a see-saw battle, eventually emerging a 6-0 4-6 6-1 victor.
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