With a place in the Australian Open quarterfinals at stake, the Hologic WTA Tour's players were pulling out all the shots on Day 8.

Australian Open: Scores | Schedule | Draws

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Donna Vekic seemed out of this point in the first set against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova when her opponent's delicately angled drop shot spun away from her into the doubles alley. But Vekic motored across the court to track it down -- and flick a perfect counter-drop of her own, so finely placed that Pavlyuchenkova could only stand and watch.

Drop shot Coco Gauff at your peril. Belinda Bencic's effort was a good one, dropping just over the net, and despite Gauff's wheels the American couldn't punish it. But Gauff's reflexes are another of her super-strengths, and she got the better of a rat-a-tat exchange at the net en route to serving out the victory.

The days when Aryna Sabalenka was a pure power player are long gone. The defending champion can still out-muscle almost everyone, but her ability to mix it up with finesse makes for some true chef's-kiss moments -- such as this drop shot against Mirra Andreeva.

In the doubles second round, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Laura Siegemund had to show off the whole repertoire just to stay in this all-court scramble against Lucia Bronzetti and Anhelina Kalinina. In the end, it was Haddad Maia who saw the gap through the middle and hammered a winner straight through it.