It is hard for tennis fans not to warm to Sloane Stephens - she's still a teenager and she has already conquered the villain of women's tennis, Serena Williams.
She had a large portion of them eating out of her Florida-born hands after her win over Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski in their fourth-round clash at Hisense Arena on Monday, claiming she was still just hoping to make a buck in the world of tennis.
Well, there's a guaranteed $500,000 in prizemoney coming her way - not counting potential endorsements - after she qualified for the final four via a drama-packed victory over childhood hero Williams, who continued playing in spite of severe back spasms.
But regardless of the nature of the victory, 'Aussie' Sloane will be remembered fondly in Melbourne for taking on the biggest of names, in one of the biggest of tennis stadiums, head on - and winning.
Her character seems to be very happy-go-lucky - in her press conference after beating Jovanovski, she was quizzed about the upcoming clash with Williams.
Stephens replied it was a good thing to have already dealt with the awe of looking at 15-time major winner Williams from the other side of the net when they met two weeks earlier at the Brisbane International.
Not the 'she's a great player' answer the question normally gets.
During their quarter-final on Thursday, a Channel 7 commentator scoffed at Stephens' calm mentality at the thought of tackling Williams. The proof, though, was in the pudding.
It was incredibly mature of Stephens to acknowledge that nothing is more necessary than a positive mindset to successfully take down Williams, especially at a major.
But there is something different about Stephens, and it's not her unwarranted modesty. After turning professional in 2009, she has already reached the third round of each of the four majors. Most players would take a last-32 appearance in any one of them as a pass mark at her age.
And her latest victory will undoubtedly be at the top of the pile - save for more heroics against defending champion Victoria Azarenka on Thursday - for some time.
That it was against a woman who inspired her on her journey north of the junior ranks was an added bonus for her graduation on the big stage.
However, the reason why Stephens is so admirable is that she not only fails to bow to Williams - figuratively - on the court, but she also doesn't do so off it.
At a change of ends in their clash earlier in the summer, Stephens was heard telling her coach that Williams' celebration shouts of 'come on' were disrespectful - and she would have had a majority of the home viewers in her corner on that too.
Of course, tennis fans are all too aware of Williams' on-court antics after she was sensationally disqualified from her US Open semi-final against Kim Clijsters in 2009 after threatening a linesperson.
That Stephens got her revenge on Williams in the space of a fortnight is, surely, just the start of something special for the young American, who should never have to worry about her finances again.