One is amazed to be a grand slam winner, the other is unsure he's even worthy of a top-five world ranking.
Either way, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori are fast looming as huge Australian Open title threats.
The pair lined up a quarter-final showdown at Melbourne Park with Wawrinka overcoming Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, while the Japanese fifth seed ousted another Spaniard David Ferrer.
Defending champion Wawrinka, ranked fourth, said he wasn't thinking about winning another title just yet.
"I'm not focused to win a major, I'm taking match after match," he said.
"It's amazing I already did one."
The fourth-seeded Swiss saved four set points in the fourth set to triumph 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 4-6 7-6 (10-8).
Wawrinka was 5-0 down in the fourth-set tiebreaker and then 6-2.
But after reeling off five straight points, Wawrinka converted at his second match point to move through after a tick over three hours.
It was his 11th straight at Melbourne Park, including last year's four-set success over Rafael Nadal to take the title.
"I'm happy to get through," Wawrinka said after clubbing 70 winners on Margaret Court Arena.
"It's always great to play here, especially after what happened last year."
Nishikori did it more comfortably against the Spanish veteran who has twice made the semi-finals in Melbourne, winning 6-3 6-3 6-3.
The Japanese No.1 has hit the big time on the back of a break-out 2014 when he became the first man from an Asian country to reach a grand slam final, losing the US Open title match to Marin Cilic.
He tightened a little in the final game but got home on his third match point in just over two hours.
It continued Nishikori's recent dominance over the world No.10, having won their last five successive meetings.
"I'm always ready to play five sets against him so I was surprised to win in three," Nishikori said.
"I've had three good matches here and have been hitting well so I'm happy."
Nishikori and Wawrinka played an epic five-set quarter-final match at last year's US Open, which he said gave him confidence he could go the distance and compete with the world's best.
Despite his surge up the rankings, Nishikori said he didn't feel he belonged just yet.
"I need some time to stay in this ranking for a couple of months and I will be more comfortable."
Joining the pair in the quarter finals is big serving Canadian Milos Raonic.
The eighth seed outlasted Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 in over three hours and will play the winner of the Novak Djokovic-Giles Muller match in the other men's quarter final.
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