Mumbai, Jan. 24 -- Tomas Martin Etchiverry stretched as far as his 6-foot-5 frame would let him at the end of a quick dash towards the net. He did manage to retrieve the drop shot sent his way and get the ball back into play, but the momentum of his sprint carried him forward and off the court. Alexander Bublik waited at the service line across the net as Etchiverry's weak return floated harmlessly towards him. There was an open court for Bublik to play into. For any other player, a simple tap would suffice. Bublik, ever the showman, casually lobbed his volley back for the winner. Everywhere the Kazakh plays, he carries his bag of tricks with him. The drop-shots, the tweeners, the front-facing tweeners, the underarm serves, the 200 kmph+ second serves, the taps across the net using the racquet handle. But along with the crowd-pleasing trickery, his obvious weapons and immense talent, Bublik has travelled to the Australian Open with probably his most important tool - the new mindset of wanting to win. With a calm mind set on a clear goal, the 28-year-old secured a spot in the fourth round in Melbourne with a gritty 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Etchiverry. This is the furthest he has ever been at the Australian Open. And comes as a result of a new mentality he has adopted. One that has now helped him break into the top 10. "With years to come, I aged a bit, I matured a bit. I came here to win matches. I came here to do everything that is in my power. to get the win," Bublik said earlier in the tournament. "I'm trying to fight. I'm trying to get the balls back. This is the mentality I (caught), since last year. I have no joy of coming here, taking the third set, losing in five, yelling, breaking racquets. I don't feel the need to do that." A year ago, at the Australian Open, Bublik was ranked 37 in the world. Then, with his casual approach to tennis, the losses started piling up and he dropped down to as low as 82. That's when the alarm bells started to ring. At the French Open he talked about not wanting his ranking to drop to a point where he was ineligible to play his favourite events. A change in approach was required, and the player who in the past has asserted he is "not the most professional guy on the planet" was now willing to be more serious at his craft. In positions in which the old Bublik would readily throw in the towel, he was now willing to run the extra yards and play the extra shots to get the win. "I enjoy winning more than in the previous years," he said. "For me, that's how I started to play from around (March) last year. I continue with the things that are working. For me it's more about keeping the consistency, keeping the rhythm, doing the things that are working now. As long as it's working, I'll try to continue." If the 2025 season started with him falling to the lowest he has been in years, it ended with him reaching the quarter-final of the French Open for the first time, be the only player not named Carlos Alcaraz to beat Jannik Sinner in a completed match, and win a haul of four tour titles. Hours before his match on Friday, Aryna Sabalenka had to grind out a 7-6(4), 7-6(7) win over Anastasia Potapova. "Aryna five years ago would be focusing too much on the way she feels and completely lose these matches," she said later. In time, Sabalenka would become the world No.1. There are plenty of 'what if' moments from Bublik's career so far but now he's not leaving things to the imagination. He has worked hard to find the momentum that has seen him come to the Australian Open after having won the ATP tour event in Hong Kong. In Melbourne, he has earned three consecutive straight-set wins. And while Bublik has become more tenacious in his approach, his next opponent is resilience personified Alex De Minaur. Yet the Kazakh need only look back at their previous two meetings - both coming after the mentality shift last year. The last time they played, Bublik won their quarter-final at the Paris Masters despite losing the first set. That came before Bublik came back from two sets down to win in five at the French Open. The bag of tricks is still there. But now, armed with something much bigger, Bublik is ready to play....