Glasgow - The morning heat's beard diminished to a moustache for Cameron van der Burgh's 100m breaststroke semi where he faced Scot Ross Murdoch, the man he identified in the morning as the swimmer who could spring a surprise.
Van der Burgh took the race out turning in 28.10 with the Scot in second, but confident that he had secured his final he took a few longer strokes to ease off to the touch, giving Murdoch a 0.19 second advantage over his 59.91.
England's Adam Peaty rewrote his own Games record set in the heats to clock 59.16 seconds in the second semi with a substantial lead on New Zealand's Glenn Snyders.
"I'm happy, I'm in the final. There's no point in showing your cards now," said Van der Burgh.
"I'm happy with the progress so far. It's going to be a tough battle tomorrow (Saturday). There are eight swimmers in the final, everyone's trying to win the crown so you can't write off anyone. I'm sure there will be a couple of 58s tomorrow."
With Van der Burgh, the world recordholder with 58.46, Peaty clearly on form and home support for Murdoch, the South African will be removing that moustache tonight for sure.