Daria Kasatkina has booked a Wimbledon date with Naomi Osaka after a two-hours and 37 minutes slugfest victory over Indonesia's Janice Tjen.
Kasatkina, the Australian No.2, won 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-4 to become the first Australian into the third round of the grasscourt slam.
Osaka, who beat Anastasia Gasanova 6-3 6-2, may appear a daunting opponent as a four-time grand slam champion, but the former world No.1 has never gone beyond this stage at Wimbledon.
Kasatkina was pleased to hear this ("I like these statistics") having outlined how Osaka has all the right tools for grass.
"It's obviously a very tough draw and a very tough match, especially on grass. I never beat her before, so it's not a perfect situation for me, but also less pressure for me.
"She's got a very good serve, good shots, she's trying to attack all the time on grass. It's the best tactic on grass."
However, Kasatkina has not gone beyond the third round here either, but if she can reproduce the form she showed in the middle set against Tjen she has a real chance.
Opening up on court 16, one of the quartet of tight outside courts squeezed between the Centre Court and Court No.1, Kasatkina began slowly and found herself 2-4 down.
She broke back forcing a tie-break in which she led 5-1. Then a weak shot at the net was followed by an unlucky net cord and double fault. That handed Tjen a set point the Indonesian took with aplomb.
Kasatkina, currently ranked No.65 and 23 places below her opponent, shook off this collapse to assert herself in the second set by rattling through it in 31 minutes, playing with intent.
Tjen, making her Wimbledon debut and seeking to reach the third round of a grand slam for the first time, took a toilet break to the annoyance of Kasatkina who observed: "Every time I win a set the opponent takes a toilet break."
A long conversation with her coaching support followed of which she admitted. "The box was trying to calm me down."
The delay did not initially change the pattern as Kasatkina secured an early break but the 24-year-old from Jakarta soon broke back.
Kasatkina broke again to lead 4-3, but Tjen once more responded. But this time Kasatkina saved the break before acing the 14th point of the game.
Tjen, who became the first Indonesian to win a match at Wimbledon since 2003 when she beat 2019 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in the first round, did not surrender easily.
Backed by a small but noisy band of supporters she saved two match points before Kasatkina's double fault handed her a break point.
But the new Aussie saved that, forced a third match point and won it with a powerful unreturned serve.
"It was a tough match against an opponent with an unusual way of playing on the women's side," said Kasatkina.
"I needed some time to adapt so I'm really proud of my performance emotionally. Also game-wise, because I feel I made good decisions, but mostly mental."
Having revealed before the tournament she had "very low expectations" she said her confidence was rising.
"In tennis, it's very easy. You win matches, you feel better. You lose matches, you feel worse.
"The first match I won was, 'we call it a dirty win', when you win with whatever, just being there, fighting.
"Today was more playing better. Choosing the right things to do and executing well, so really happy with today."
Elsewhere, James Duckworth learned he will face ninth seed Flavio Cobolli in the second round after the Italian wrapped up victory against Mariano Navone.
The French Open winner was two sets to one up when bad light forced a suspension on Tuesday. Upon resumption Wednesday morning (local time) he won 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-6 (10-8).