Daria Saville (née Gavrilova) has continued her giant-killing form, progressing to the fourth round of the Indian Wells Masters.
The Australian defeated world No. 23 Elise Mertens 6-3 4-6 6-3 on Tuesday in a match that lasted just under three hours.
Saville - who was born in Russia but competes for Australia - showed her support for Ukraine on-court, wearing a yellow skirt and blue top.
Entering the tournament ranked No. 409, she has now shot up to world No. 249 in the live rankings following her run of upset victories.
The 28-year-old has enjoyed a strong return to competitive tennis since undergoing Achilles surgery following last year’s Australian Open.
Saville claimed a notable victory over U.S Open champion Emma Raducanu at the WTA Guadalajara event in Mexico last month and has shown no signs of slowing down since.
She began her Indian Wells campaign with a straight-sets victory over Zhang Shuai before battling past No. 9 seed Ons Jabeur in the second round.
Her latest upset victory over Elise Mertens marks an impressive three-match win streak over top-50 ranked opponents, as well as her first five-match winning run on tour since 2017.
Despite not serving any aces, Saville won 58% of points on her first service against Mertens, and an impressive 68% on her second.
The momentum in the match appeared to shift when her Belgian opponent claimed the second set, but she stayed strong to take out the deciding set.
Saville is now set to face world No.6 Maria Sakkari for a place in the quarterfinals.
The pair has only played against each other once, with the Australian claiming the win in their match in 2016.
