Serbian 13th seed Ana Ivanovic said her conqueror Agnieszka Radwanska is an underrated Australian Open title prospect.
Radwanska outplayed Ivanovic 6-2 6-4 in one hour and 10 minutes of their fourth-round clash on Rod Laver Arena, continuing her brilliant form that has seen her not lose a set so far in 2013.
And Ivanovic, who produced 30 more unforced errors than Radwanska, said the fourth-seeded Pole was well in the mix for the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, despite Serena Williams, defending champion Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova being more favoured to take the title.
"Well, she took Serena into (a) third set in (the) Wimbledon (final) … I think she definitely can (win the title)," Ivanovic said.
"She's a player, it's no secret, who doesn't make too many winners, but she has good hands.
"She can really get the opponents to feel a little awkward, you know, make you go for too much."
Ivanovic said she was surprised at the lack of pace Radwanska hit the ball with, which threw her own timing out of whack.
"It was quite softer. I had to move a lot forward. I wasn't doing that enough in the first set and I wasn't staying low enough on my shots, especially on the forehands," she said.
"I was pulling out of my shots too early and I was mis-hitting a lot."
Radwanska has a dangerous quarter-final match-up with China's Li Na, considering the world number six beat the Pole three times comfortably in the space of eight weeks last season.
But the fourth seed accounted for Li in the Australian Open lead-up event in Sydney, and acknowledged the challenge that the former Open finalist presented ahead of their clash on Tuesday.
"Well, we played so many times in the last couple months. It's never easy playing against her. She's a very consistent player and moving very well, serving well," Radwanska said.
"For sure I really have to play (one) hundred percent to beat her. We played in Sydney. It was a really tough match. We'll see how it's going to be here."