It was enthralling, enrapturing, fascinating and nerve-racking.
It was bewitching and beguiling, a contest which pitted one player's poise, touch and technical smarts against another's power, pace, strength and sheer bloody-minded commitment.
And in the end it was former world No.1 and Australian Open champion, the powerful Angelique Kerber, who prevailed after a tremendously entertaining fourth-round clash with the outsider Su-Wei Hsieh, the veteran from Chinese Taipei.
The German, who won the Australian Open in 2016, came through a two-hour test that shredded her nerves and provided a stern examination of her character, winning two sets to one, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
At 5-4 and a set up, Hsieh had the chance to win the match and produce a huge boilover. But Kerber kept her cool, held her serve and broke Hsieh in the 11th game of the second set before serving out to level the match at a set apiece.
Hsieh, whose ability to find angles and hit the lines had taken her to the brink of a stunning result, then began to run out of steam as Kerber's superior fitness and strength kicked in.
But before that she had run Kerber ragged, her finesse with drop shots, lobs and disguised strokes, her precision and ability to find angles which sent the German sliding all over the court had made this into a captivating contest which hung in the balance for so long.
The first three games of the deciding final set featured service breaks, but once Kerber held hers in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead the writing was on the wall.
Still, Hsieh can take credit for playing a major role in creating a gripping contest.
Few gave her any chance before this game against the No. 21 seed.
After all, Kerber had dismantled Maria Sharapova on Saturday night with a display that had many keen to post her as the new favourite for a championship characterised by upset results and highly ranked players enduring close calls.
Hsieh, 32, was the oldest player in the women's draw, and had performed above expectations to get this far, equalling her best performance in Melbourne when she reached the fourth round in 2008, having got into the main draw as a qualifier.
That seems a lifetime ago, and in tennis terms it was, as she was beaten by the long-since retired Justine Henin on that occasion.
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"Credit to her, she played an unbelievable match," a relieved Kerber said after her win. "I was running everywhere and she always had an answer. I was just trying to focus on next point, not on the score, I was just trying to play every single point.
"I was feeling that I was running from the first point to the last point. I am really happy about how I was able to change and turn around the match, especially in the third set.
"She played winners and had answers for every shot I had in the first two sets. I was trying everything and she always had the better answer."
Kerber acknowledged that it was her competitiveness that enabled her to pull a result out of the fire.
"I know that I can fight, I know that I can come back. I think the fight was very important for me today.
"I know that I have to be aggressive and take the match in my hands in certain moments.
"It gives me a lot of confidence that I can turn around matches, always find a way to come back."
Kerber goes through to the last eight, where she plays Madison Keys, who had an easier passage through in the first match on Rod Laver Arena when she breezed past Caroline Garcia in straight sets.
