With her serve misfiring and the ball coming back at her from some irregular angles, it was time for Serena Williams to go to Plan B.
Williams knuckled down and just scrapped her way to a 7-5, 6-4 win over No 16-seeded Barbora Strycova on Monday to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the 11th time.
Despite four service breaks — two in the first four games — and 46 unforced errors, and with the fluky net cord and the off-balance, scrunched-shouldered backhand that bounced flatly and clinched her the first set on her eighth set point, she ground down Strycova.
"It's good to know I have a Plan B, or Option 2. I wasn't serving my greatest today, also she was putting a lot of returns in there," said Williams, who had a first-serve percentage of 45, and made four double-faults. "I feel like it was really good for me to win on probably not my best day, which is always good, because sometimes you rely on one shot and if it goes off, and then, like, what happens nowIJ
"It was really good for me to almost lose that so I know my other game is going pretty good, too."
That keeps Williams on track in her bid for an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam title. If she gets there, the 35-year-old American will regain the No 1 ranking as well from Angelique Kerber.
Next up, she'll face No 9 Johanna Konta, who beat Ekaterina Makarova for the second straight year in the fourth round. The 2016 semifinalist was only broken once and broke Makarova four times in the 6-1, 6-4 win.
She's excited at the prospect of a quarterfinal with Williams, one of her inspirations as a young player.
"She's one of the few players still playing I watched growing up," Konta said. "It's an incredible honor and I can't wait to share the court with her."
Mirjana lucic-Baroni reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1999 as a 17-year-old and, after a long, difficult time off the tour, she has returned to the quarterfinals of a major for the first time since.
She beat US qualifier Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-2 and will next play U.S. Open finalist Karolina Pliskova, who ended Australia's involvement in the singles draws with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Daria Gavrilova.
Williams, a possible semifinal rival, was relaxed after her match, retelling a story about her recent engagement and a trip to Rome.
"I live in a movie and in a fairytale in my mind, so I guess eventually it was bound to happen," she said, talking of the circumstances of the marriage proposal from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
No 3-seeded Milos Raonic advanced with a 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Roberto Bautista Agut and is getting more attention now that now that No 1 Andy Murray, the five-time runner-up, and No 2 Novak Djokovic, the six-time champion, are out of the draw.
Raonic hit 33 aces and 75 winners but had nine double-faults and 55 unforced errors, and seemed to get on a roll after spiking his racket into the court in frustration in the ninth game of the third set.
No 15-seeded Grigor Dimitrov closed with an ace to hold off No. 117 wild-card entry Denis Istomin 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-1. Istomin, who upset six-time champion Novak Djokovic in the second round, needed repeated treatment on his tiring legs in the third and fourth sets.
He will next play No. 11 David Goffin, a 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-2 winner of No. 8 Dominic Thiem.
Nadal fights off Monfils
Rafael Nadal fought back to deny mercurial Frenchman Gael Monfils over four sets and reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final since 2015 at the Australian Open on Monday.
Ninth seed Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, defeated the sixth-seeded Monfils 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Rod laver Arena in almost three hours and will play Canada's world number three Milos Raonic in the quarters.
It was a gutsy effort from the never-say-die Spaniard, who was down a service break with a fifth set looming before he broke Monfils twice to clinch victory.
The 2009 champion reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne for the ninth time and it was his first since the 2015 French Open. "I'm very happy being in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam after a couple of years without being there," he said. "It's very special for me, especially here in Australia where I feel (it's) a little bit like home."
He added: "Gael is a special player. He is able to play unbelievable shots. It is a pleasure to see him in the top rankings."
It was Nadal's first win over a top-10 player at a Grand Slam since he defeated number two Novak Djokovic to win the title at Roland Garros in 2014, his last Grand Slam win.
He will go into his Australian quarter-final with a 6-2 lead over Raonic in their previous meetings.
Monfils was broken in his opening service game as Nadal went on to take the first set in 46 minutes.
Nadal lost his service in the sixth game but broke the unpredictable Frenchman three times to open up a two-set lead and was closing in on a straight-sets victory.
But Monfils fought back, breaking Nadal in the ninth game and saving three break points in serving it out to trail 2-1 in sets. Nadal began to struggle in the fourth set as Monfils fought off two break points and broke the Spaniard in the next game with a net cord on one of his three break points.
But Nadal fought back, breaking the Frenchman with a marvellous backhand winner to level at 4-4 before holding serve to 5-4. Nadal then got to his first match point in Monfils' next service game, which was saved. On a second match point, the Frenchman's backhand was narrowly wide to send Nadal through.