Home hope Daria Saville is growing in confidence ahead of the Australian Open after claiming her biggest scalp since returning from a serious knee injury.
The 29-year-old Victorian toppled 2020 Open champion Sofia Kenin 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 on Wednesday night to reach the quarter-finals of the Hobart International.
Saville only returned to the tour in June after being sidelined for some nine months after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament.
The one-time world No.20's ranking dropped to as low as No.322 after her injury, but currently sits at No.133.
The victory over world No.38 Kenin - who beat Ash Barty en route to winning the 2020 Australian Open four years ago - is Saville's best by ranking since her return.
It comes after a three-set win over world No.46 Anna Blinkova on Monday in round one in Hobart.
"It gives me confidence and the belief maybe I was lacking since coming back from an ACL," Saville said.
"It's a nice reward not just for me but for my team as well.
"I can still improve a lot, but since coming back from the injury it's the best I've played."
The win featured 13 aces, including one on set point and one on match point, and a run of 15 straight points in the second set.
Saville, a wildcard entrant in Hobart, was also granted the final discretionary wildcard for the Australian Open ahead of the country's highest-ranked woman Arina Rodionova.
After beating Kenin last week in Brisbane, Rodionova lost in the opening round of AO qualifying on Tuesday and launched a scathing attack on Tennis Australia, claiming the governing body had a vendetta against her.
Saville will meet Chinese third seed Lin Zhu on Thursday for a semi-final berth.
Earlier on Wednesday, Hobart top seed and world No.30 Elise Mertens cruised past former finalist Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2 6-3.
Merterns and Saville will meet in the semi-finals if the pair win through.
Mertens, who won in Hobart in 2017 and 2018, next meets Dutch veteran Arantxa Rus, who she hasn't played for nine years.
"That would be amazing (to win the tournament again), but we're only in the quarter-finals - I need to win three more," Mertens said.
The unseeded Rus toppled higher-ranked eighth seed Varvara Gracheva 6-2 6-3 in round two to make the final eight.
