Mumbai, July 7 -- There's this stat that paints a picture of the wild, wild Wimbledon so far: six from the women's top 10 have exited in the first week. And there's this stat that draws the career arc of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: the Russian is into her 10th Grand Slam quarter-final and her first at Wimbledon after nine years, beating Britain's Sonay Kartal 7-6(3), 6-4. All through that decade and the one before, the 34-year-old has never entered the top 10. Reaching a career-high world No.11 in 2021, the season in which she made the French Open singles final and helped Russia to the Billie Jean King Cup crown, the 12-time WTA titlist could count herself as one of the more solid CV-flaunting pros to have never been in that celebrated top-10 club. Especially given the amount of turnover the WTA top 10 has had season after season of late, and players with Grand Slam pedigree that have landed in it -purely for context, Jasmine Paolini and Qinwen Zheng, the current world No.5 and 6, have entered six Slam quarter-finals between them. Pavlyuchenkova is into her 10th, and this season's second, after first becoming a Slam quarterfinalist back in 2011. Her nine-year gap between two last-eight entries at Wimbledon is the biggest in the tournament history in women's singles alongside Mary Pierce, according to OptaAce. The world No.50's level, as this week has shown, is still good enough to get past four-time Slam champion Naomi Osaka, whom Pavlyuchenkova beat in the third round. It was also enough to defeat home favourite Kartal in straight sets. That, despite the electronic line calling system's failure stealing a game from her, as Pavlyuchenkova frustratingly told the chair umpire, for a ball that wasn't called out but certainly was, at game point in the first set. The point replayed, Kartal went on to break her to go up 5-4. Pavlyuchenkova went on to save a set point and eventually take the set in the tiebreaker. A more straightforward set later, she was back in the quarters of a Slam, and on a surface that has been her least productive. "I've always thought I'm not good on grass," she said in her on-court chat. "It's incredible, especially me getting older and coming here year after year, I'm just so impressed and proud of myself to compete with these young girls at this level." Her own level has often been up and down in a two-decade long career, which in a way partly explains her top-10 exile. Having also made the Australian Open last eight, this is only the second time after 2011 where she has entered two quarter-finals in the same season. The Russian's best season came four years ago when she became a French Open finalist, Olympic quarterfinalist in singles and gold medallist in mixed doubles. Some misfortune pulled her back after that. In 2022, Pavlyuchenkova missed the year-opening block in Australia after contracting Covid-19. Then, a knee injury ended her sporadic season in May. The French Open points dropped, she fell out of the top 50 for the first time since 2008. The climb back up in 2023 - she made the French Open last eight ranked No.333 - was followed by her 500th career win in May last year. Soon after this year's Australian Open, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness that would make her so fatigued and groggy that she couldn't even see clearly at times in practice. The "horrible" phase that lasted longer than expected made her realise that she had to listen to her body. And to not take matches and victories for granted at 34. "I started to appreciate every match and every moment," she told WTA. "A few months ago, I couldn't even practice. Then, you think maybe you will never have this moment again." Pavlyuchenkova is now back in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, nine years later. Also back in the Wimbledon quarter-finals is Aryna Sabalenka, who skipped the last edition. The world No.1, coming off a hard-fought win over Emma Raducanu, beat 24th seed Belgian Elise Mertens 6-4, 7-6(4)....