TennisBy Dan Levy on

Daria Gavrilova, the 21-year old hometown hero at the Australian Open, came back to defeat 28th-seeded Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 on Friday to advance to the weekend and continue her surprising run of play.

Gavrilova has lived in Australia for three years and has been adopted by the loyal Aussies as a local favorite in the tournament, especially after her second-round upset over 6th-seed Petra Kvitova.

XXX of ZZZ plays a forehand in his/her third round match against XXXX of ZZZZ during day five of the 2016 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 22, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.

Gavrilova has looked, at times, like the moment is too big for her, but she’s risen back in both of her last two matches to advance, showing a level of toughness the Austrialian fans love.

They loved this too.

In her post-match interview, Gavrilova was asked about fighting back to win when it looks like a match is lost. Her answer was, well, pretty hilarious.

The late-night Aussie crowd loved it, and Gavrilova was a great sport about the gaffe before going back to her regular interview, telling the crowd how she wants to win again on Sunday. If she wasn’t already a fan favorite, she sure as heck is now.

UPDATE:

About Dan Levy

Dan Levy has written a lot of words in a lot of places, most recently as the National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. He was host of The Morning B/Reakaway on Sirius XM's Bleacher Report Radio for the past year, and previously worked at Sporting News and Rutgers University, with a concentration on sports, media and public relations.

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