Iga Swiatek's streak continues.
The lone woman to make the second week at every Grand Slam last year, Swiatek has reached her first quarterfinal, then first semifinal at a major away from the French Open after rallying against Kaia Kanepi on Wednesday.
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The Pole hasn't blown past opponents at this Australian Open the way she did in Paris two years ago – where she didn't concede a set and dropped 25 total games – but the popular 20-year-old considers it a positive.
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Swiatek's 4-6 7-6(3) 6-3 win over the Estonian followed a one-set fourth-round comeback against Sorana Cirstea, another hard, flat hitter more than 10 years older than the world No.9.
Some might express surprise at Swiatek being pushed by unseeded opponents, yet it speaks of the immense depth in the women's game, not to mention the increased pressure on her shoulders.
Ranked 54 during her French Open triumph, playing freely at Grand Slams now figures to be more difficult, surely one of the reasons she continues to work with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz.
Swiatek won from a set down three times all of last season.
"Right now, I have more belief even when I don't start the match well," Swiatek, voted as the WTA fan favourite in 2020, said.
"I'm proud of myself that I'm still able to find solutions and actually think more on court on what to change, because before it wasn't that clear for me.
"So I feel like it's part of the work that we have been doing with Daria to control my emotions and just maybe actually focus on finding solutions.
"Actually you're gonna feel perfectly, I don't know, two times a year," she added in another passage.
"So I'm still not an expert at like forgetting about that, because I still mostly hope that I'm gonna get to that point during a tournament.
"It's also not good to focus on that. You've just got to go step by step and use what you have that day. Because if you're gonna just hope or think, 'Hey, on the other day this ball would go in,' I mean, when you're out there on court, it doesn't really matter, because you just have the weapons that you have today and you have to use them."
The racquet is a tennis player's weapon, of course, and Swiatek flung it to the court in disgust against Kanepi, who upset second seed Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round.
The Warsaw native overcame the frustration and credited the work she did on her fitness in the off-season.
It was one of change, since Swiatek cut ties with coach Piotr Sierzputowski and turned to Tomasz Wiktorowski. He guided the now retired two-time Australian Open semifinalist Agnieszka Radwanska, like Swiatek a Fan Favourite winner.
Swiatek's physical reserves could be put to the test in the semifinals on Thursday after the three-hour battle against Kanepi.
With the usual day off between matches gone, Swiatek faces Danielle Collins, who beat maiden Grand Slam quarterfinalist Alize Cornet in an hour and a half earlier in the day.
Swiatek collected a retirement win over Collins in Adelaide last year, a round after the intense American stunned world No.1 Ash Barty.
"I always felt prepared physically, and I know my pre-season was pretty hard," said Swiatek.
"I'm going to see how the other factors are going to influence it, like the stress, because the recovery after practices – even if they are three-hour practices – and after a match, it's pretty different.
"I'll see tomorrow, but I have optimistic views."
Swiatek bagged the French Open alongside idol Rafael Nadal, and the pair remain in contention to achieve the double at Melbourne Park this January.
Yes, she has kept an eye on Nadal's matches, including the fifth set of his quarterfinal thriller on Tuesday against Denis Shapovalov.
"I fist-pumped Rafa like two days ago, so that was really inspiring," she said.
"You can see that he's just pure class and he's a legend. It's always fun to watch him. Yeah, I just really enjoy that as not only as a tennis player, but also as a fan."