No. 72 Matthew Barlow extended his magical singles run at the Carvana Mesa Cup on Friday with an especially notable triumph on Grandstand Court.

The 31-year-old qualifier defeated No. 1 Hunter Johnson 11-9, 3-11, 11-5 to advance to the semifinals where a matchup against No. 4 Chris Haworth awaits on Saturday.

Earlier this week, he downed No. 6 Roscoe Bellamy in the Round of 64 and No. 30 Mota Alhouni in the Round of 32 in three-game battles that also went the distance.

Barlow was especially thrilled to beat the world's top-ranked singles player, of course, but it was definitely a battle from start to finish.

"It was a lot. It was up and down. He turned it up in the second game. I got a little gassed, and I had to ask the Holy Spirit to fill me up," he said. "Flesh was breaking down, but the Holy Spirit carried me all the way through."

Barlow executed his game plan to perfection.

That was key.

"I realized I had to trust it. I had to go for my shot to get to the net. That's where I'm the strongest. Instead of trying to hit every ball deep and make him play multiple balls, I just had to play him short and try to play cat and mouse with him," he explained. "I think you have to have variety against him. If you try to play through the court against him, he's going to take you down all day. That variety is slightly my game style anyway, so it kind of fit."

Barlow is certainly a player to watch moving forward.

He officially put the rest of field on notice.

"I've played a couple of tournaments a year for the past four or five years. I've always known that I can hang with these guys," he concluded. "I've put in a lot of work, just off-court, just character development, personally, mentally, and that's just helped me get a little bit more edge on the court."