Vekic turns her focus to Sabalenka at AO

But after sneaking past Russian qualifier Oksana Selekhmeteva in a first-round nailbiter decided by a third-set tiebreaker, the 26-year-old has found her groove with three more wins.

The fourth-round triumph over teen prodigy Linda Fruhvirtova on Monday was the pick of the bunch.

Now the task only gets tougher when Vukic, 26, squares off on Wednesday against powerhouse Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who appears to have finally overcome her serving yips.

Among those providing valuable guidance will be straight-talking American Shriver, who won an astonishing 21 major doubles titles with Martina Navratilova and was also a singles player of note.

"It started in San Diego very randomly," said Vekic.

"We spent a lot of time there together.

"I went to LA afterwards, we also saw each other there and I was like 'Hey Pam, we get along so well, do you want to join Team DV for next year?'

"She said yes, which is one, a huge honour for me to have such a champion wanting to work with me.

"And two, I really believe that she can bring a lot to my game.

"Everyone says she's only bringing volleys for me and I'm going to improve my volleys, that's for sure.

"But it's also a lot about the serve and the rest of my game."

Sabalenka is unbeaten in eight matches in 2023 and is yet to drop a set in four outings at Melbourne Park as she zeroes in on what would be a maiden grand slam title.

Hiring biomechanic Gavin MacMillan to fix up her shonky second serve has been crucial after the Belarusian produced a whopping 428 double faults in 2022, 139 more than the WTA's next-worst offender.

"Even when my serve was - how did you say - 'a disaster' I worked a lot on it," she said.

"I kept trying, kept believing, kept changing.

"Then I worked on it with my biomechanic and basically that's it.

"I thought it was mental but it wasn't."

The winner will play either Czech former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova or unseeded Pole Magda Linette in the semi-finals.