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Rising through the ranks from a nation churning out a glut of women’s champions, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova knows better than most the burden of expectation.
A three-time junior Grand Slam champion, as a teenager she was widely tipped to be the next great Russian. After peaking at a career-high ranking of No.13 in 2011 on the back of French and US Open quarter-finals showings, though, it has been a bumpy road since.
The 25-year-old could well be about to turn a corner after surprising even herself to reach a maiden Wimbledon quarter-final on Monday with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over American Coco Vandeweghe.
The No.21 seed was frank in admitting why she had never really proven herself on grass before.
“I'm not supposed to say this, but really I didn't like grass at all. Now it's kind of changing a little. In the end it's OK, the grass. I don't mind it,” she grinned.
“I guess the key is I wasn't really fit enough, never fit enough, to play on grass. I have never had consistency in my work or off court and everything, so now I'm trying to put all those pieces like puzzles together and stay quite consistent with my work and everything outside the court, so I guess that's helping.”
With Pavlyuchenkova serving for the match, Vandeweghe – who had reached her first slam quarter-final at Wimbledon last year – brought up three break points with a backhand drop-shot winner.
She converted on her third opportunity with an off-forehand winner for 3-5 but found herself facing match point again a game later when the Russian made an easy cross-court forehand pass.
Pavlyuchenkova sealed a showdown with defending champion Serena Williams when Vandeweghe netted a forehand down the line.
She admitted the transition from juniors to a tour professional had thrown more than a few curve balls her way.
“I was No.1 in juniors, basically winning everything and being so confident. Then it was tough to change and go in the pro circuit, because that wasn't happening. I was losing, you know. Everything was more difficult.
“So that was a lot of pressure on me. And then mentally I was breaking down ... You need to work so hard every match and nobody's gonna give it to you.
“No, we'll see. Again, I take it step by step, match by match.”
With Svetlana Kuznetsova falling to Williams on Centre Court, and doubles partners Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova battling it out for a quarter-final berth, it marked the first time four Russians had featured in the fourth round at Wimbledon since 2009.
Vesnina prevailed in just short of three hours to deny her good friend Makarova 5-7, 6-1, 9-7. In what will be her first Grand Slam quarter-final, the world No.50 will face Slovak No.19 seed Dominika Cibulkova.
Makarova, a bridesmaid for Vesnina’s wedding only last November, was bidding to make her second Wimbledon quarter-final.
Russian-born Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova joined Pavlyuchenkova and Vesnina in reaching her first Wimbledon quarter-final after upsetting Czech No.29 seed Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-4.
The 28-year-old brought up three match points with a big body-jamming first serve drawing the error and took it on her first when Safarova bunted a backhand long.
It was a polished performance from Shvedova who won 81 per cent of first serve points and never faced a break point. Her 26 winners were three more than the Czech’s and her 10 unforced errors less than half.
