“Yeah, obviously, you know, think of what — I mean, think of the things that you need to do in order to make the serve, whether you feel like you’re missing a lot of first serves or you have to hit a lot of second serves, but to hit more first serves in and things like that,” said Sharapova of trying to mentally deal with the double faults. “But, yeah.”

The US Open women’s draw lost a Top 10 seed to an American upstart on Wednesday, and an American veteran who dropped out of the tournament due to a frightening diagnosis.

“It’s just a matter of belief within myself, that no matter how well or bad or good I’m playing, or my opponent is playing, I know I can tough it out,” Sharapova said. “No matter what the situation is, I have the belief.”

They joined Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Melanie Oudin who made it into the quarters on Wednesday. Mattek-Sands is a grinder mostly known for her knee-high socks, and Oudin with her small-ball game has seemingly already had her 15 minutes of fame last year at the US Open.