Aleksandar Vukic plans to adopt the same fearless approach that served him so well in his dismissal of Stefanos Tsitsipas when he confronts No.2 seed Tommy Paul in their Adelaide International quarterfinal on Thursday.
Vukic has yet to drop a set since qualifying for the main draw at The Drive.
There was no second-leg letdown for Vukic on Wednesday, the 29-year-old backing up his 7-6(3) 7-6(5) victory over Tsitsipas under lights with a hard-fought 6-2 7-6(5) second-round win over Italian Andrea Vavassori.
Vukic's first-round success against two-time Grand Slam finalist Tsitsipas may have come as a shock to many – but it wasn't so much for the man himself.
"Luckily, now I'm well into playing these guys a lot of the time," said a calm Vukic after sending Tsitsipas packing. "So with that you become a bit more comfortable playing these matches and a bit more assured of yourself that you can do it."
It was no fluke.
Vukic has some quality wins under his belt, headlined by a straight-sets success against then world No.9 Casper Ruud at the 2024 Shanghai Masters.
The Sydneysider has yet to face Paul, but is looking forward to the challenge.
Paul looked in imperious touch as he notched his maiden win of the season, downing fellow American Reilly Opelka 6-4 6-4.
"I think I'm going to approach it like I did against Tsitsipas," Vukic said. "It will be a great test to see again where I'm at early this year.
"I feel good. I feel like my game is progressing. There's things I can do better. But it will be a different type of opponent and, yeah, it will be a great match to play, especially during this week."
Gold Coast wildcard Kimberly Birrell will open proceedings on Centre Court against Romanian qualifier Jaqueline Cristian.
The pair have split their two meetings, with Birrell getting up at the Hobart International qualifiers in 2024, before Cristian dropped just a single game in Roland Garros rout last year.
Following that match will be a blockbuster quarterfinal between defending champion Madison Keys and young Canadian Victoria Mboko.
Mboko saved two match points before outlasting Anna Kalinskaya 6-2 3-6 7-6(6).
The 19-year-old, who catapulted from a ranking of 337th in the world 12 months ago to No.17, hasn't quite been able to replicate the mint form that marked her meteoric rise in 2025, but she will be no easy prospect for Keys.
The second-seeded Keys, who memorably took out the Adelaide-Australian Open double last season, made relatively light work of young qualifier Tereza Valentova 6-4 6-1.
It will be the first meeting between Keys and Mboko.
"I'm actually quite looking forward to it," Keys said. "She is a very, very good player. Even before she won her title in Canada, she was on some insane 20-something [21] match win streak.
"So definitely everyone's kind of had their eyes out for her a little bit. It's going to be a really tough match."
Keys, 30, still remembers being in Mboko's position as a daring youngster herself taking on the tour veterans, more than a decade ago now.
"It's always really difficult playing some of these younger players who kind of just go for everything," she said.
"It feels like they have no scar tissue yet, so they really just kind of swing for the fences.
"So it's always a unique experience, having been on the other side for so long, now being on the older side of things."
No.6 seed Emma Navarro faces ninth seed Diana Shnaider on Showcourt 1 for a spot in the semifinals.
Shnaider leads their head-to-head 2-1, all matches taking place in 2024.
Men's top seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina set up a date with fifth-seeded Valentin Vacherot after knocking out Aussie wildcard Rinji Hijikata 6-3 6-2.