For the second time in her career, Barbora Krejcikova will play in the Australian Open quarterfinals after she recorded a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 come-from-behind win over 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva in Sunday's fourth round in Melbourne.

Andreeva had beaten Krejcikova twice in 2023 -- at Wimbledon, via retirement, and in Beijing -- and looked like she was on course to do it again after winning the last three games of the the first set. But for the third time this fortnight, the 2021 Roland Garros champion came from behind for a three-set victory, and the No.9 seed advanced to a showdown with defending champion and No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka after 1 hour and 59 minutes. 

Krejcikova had previously reached the quarterfinals in Australia in 2022 -- and this will be her first appearance in the last eight of a major since then. After winning her first Grand Slam singles title in Paris in 2021, she also reached the quarterfinals of the US Open later that year.

Krejcikova speaks: “I’m really happy that I'm in a quarterfinal because I had really difficult matches. To compare it with the last time, I don't really remember the last time, so I don't really remember the feelings and the emotions that I had.

“This year, it's a new year. It’s a different tournament. I just go on and I just fight for every single ball.”

The anatomy of a comeback: After hitting four winners to 21 unforced errors in the first set, Krejcikova cleaned up her tennis and found her targets. In sets two and three, she combined to strike 28 winners to just 18 unforced errors -- including a sparkling 14 winners to three miscues in the decider. 

She also rounded into form on serve. In the final set, Krejcikova only lost four points on her delivery -- and all of them came in a deuce game with her serving up 3-2. In the decider, she never faced a break point.

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Quarterfinal outlook: Krejcikova has lost five of her six career matches against Sabalenka, but her one win was notable. Last year in Dubai, en route to the title, Krejcikova came from 6-0, 3-1 behind in a 0-6, 7-6(2), 6-1 quarterfinal win -- which was Sabalenka's first loss of the season.