American giant-killer Danielle Collins says she has the game to handle anything her opponents throw at her as she bids for a shock Australian Open semi-final berth.
The feisty world No.35 takes on Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday intent on collecting another scalp after brushing aside three-time major winner Angelique Kerber in the fourth round.
Collins considers herself a student of tennis, using the skills she learnt while completing a media studies degree and a masters in business at the University of Virginia while on a tennis scholarship.
The 25-year-old says it means she is ready for anything.
"When I was in college my coaches did a really great job developing my game into being very versatile," Collins said.
"I can play offensive, I can play defensive, I can play kind of middle of the road, I can retrieve - I'm a very good athlete, so I'm confident in everything that I'm doing."
"Tactically that's one of my strengths - I like watching what different players do to become aware of what's going to happen when I play them so that there's no surprises."
Against Kerber Collins played as good a game as she talked.
Having not won a grand-slam match in five previous attempts before lobbing at Melbourne Park, the unseeded Collins belted 29 winners in less than an hour to oust in-form Kerber.
Pavlyuchenkova's best result at Melbourne Park is a quarter-final appearance in 2017, also making the final eight at each of the other grand slams since 2011 in a show of her versatility and experience.
She's flying under the radar but has had some ominous results, beating 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the fourth round.
The winner of their quarter-final could meet Australian hope Ashleigh Barty, provided she gets past Petra Kvitova in their final eight match-up.
