Experience, toughness behind Pavlyuchenkova's Aussie charge

Russian reveals how she managed to calm her slam jitters

MELBOURNE: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova credited experience and a new-found mental toughness for helping her break an Australian Open jinx and move into the quarter-finals for the first time on Sunday.

Her 6-3, 6-3 win over fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova put the 25-year-old into the last eight at Melbourne Park for the first time in nine attempts.

Despite being the 2006 girls champion in Melbourne, Pavlyuchenkova had always struggled to gain traction during the main draw, with Australia the only Slam where the quarters had eluded her — until now.

"It's super-exciting. I was always wondering why I could never have a good start here in Australia after good pre-season, good off-season, and a lot of practising," she said. "But now it seems like I found a way, and I'm super-excited to still be in the second week here."

Next up is American great Venus Williams, and she is itching to keep going and make her first ever Grand Slam semi-final.

"Definitely. I want to do my first semi-finals of a Grand Slam or maybe a final, I would love to," said the Moscow-based player. "That's why I have been working so hard for this moment now."

Pavlyuchenkova has been competing at Grand Slams for a decade without managing to step beyond the quarters, with her career littered with first and second round exits.

But she said being older and more experienced, she was ready for a new chapter.

"Like mentally I'm just taking it differently. I'm more serious, I would say," she said. "Of course I'm working hard, but I have been working hard before. I guess I just feel more ready now mentally. I'm trying to enjoy and believe in myself more than before."

She had met Kuznetsova seven times before, with the Russian elder, seeded eight in Melbourne, winning five of them, including in this month's Sydney International.

But Pavlyuchenkova was always in charge.

Seeded 24, she jumped out of the blocks and dominated early from the baseline, winning 12 of 14 points to race into a 3-0 lead with just eight minutes on the clock.

Kuznetsova was lethargic, struggling in the blazing sun after needing more than three-and-a-half hours to get past Jelena Jankovic in the previous round.

She finally got on the scoreboard as she began to find her first-serve range, but Pavlyuchenkova kept pounding her with big-hitting ground strokes to break again for 5-1.

Kuznetsova stayed in the hunt, clawing back a break, but Pavlyuchenkova was getting 75% of her first serves in and was too physical.

She grabbed another early break in the second set, which became a dogfight, before sending the 31-year-old out of her 17th Australian Open in just 68 minutes.

Defeat was bitter for Kuznetsova, who was targeting her first Grand Slam quarter-final since the French Open in 2014 and her first major title since Roland Garros in 2009.