Melbourne –

Alize Cornet survived stifling heat to outlast former world No. 1 Simona Halep 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a battle of attrition at the Australian Open on Monday to advance to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she will meet Danielle Collins.

Earlier in the day, Collins became the third American woman — after Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula — to reach the quarters of this year's Australian Open after rallying past Elise Mertens 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Cornet, making her 63rd main draw appearance at a Grand Slam, improved her record against 2018 finalist Halep to 4-1 after a battle that lasted two hours, 33 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.

Cornet, who had both thighs heavily taped, buried her face in a towel and broke into tears after converting her third match point.

"It was a battle with Simona today in this heat," Cornet said on court amid warm applause from the crowd. "After 30 minutes of the game, we were both dying on the court. We kept going for 2½ hours with all our heart,"

"Congrats to Simona because I know she struggled a lot and I admire this player so much. She's such a fighter and an example to me. To beat her today to go to my first quarterfinal is a dream come true.

"I don't know what to say. It's just magic. It's never too late to try again."

Halep missed Wimbledon and the French Open during an injury-plagued 2021 but looked to be in peak form at the start of this season, racking up nine wins in a row, ahead of Australian Open.

The Romanian had conceded only 12 games en route to the fourth round, but looked exhausted as the match progressed, leaning on her racket between points to catch her breath.

Conditions were no less brutal earlier on Monday, as Collins needed all of her resilience to come through a grueling clash of former semifinalists. The No. 27 seed earned the win with a barrage of power hitting, as Mertens served to stay in the match.

Mertens saved two match points, the second with a gutsy second serve, but then surrendered meekly on the third with a double-fault.

"I think I had my ups and downs during the match, mentally and physically," said Collins, who looked to be hampered by a back issue during the contest.

"Elise was really working me to the max. Some of the points were incredible, how many balls she was getting back. So I had to kind of put some pressure on her."