World No.3 Roger Federer believes he is in the kind of form that could propel him to an unprecedented fifth Australian Open crown and break his biggest Grand Slam title drought since winning the first of his 16 majors at Wimbledon in 2003.
It has now been two years since the Swiss maestro clinched the last of those championships when he held the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup aloft at Melbourne Park but the third seed is showing ominous signs at this year's Australian Open.
He has progressed to his ninth-consecutive quarter-final at the tournament without dropping a set and breezed past his latest opponent, Australian teenager Bernard Tomic, in clinical fashion.
"This was my first match, real match sort of from the baseline where I had to work extremely hard where it wasn't just reacting," Federer said after his 6-4 6-2 6-2 triumph on Sunday night.
"I could act as well because, you know, Tomic kind of lets you play a little bit."
"I'm happy with how I'm feeling, so it's important to rest up well and then, you know, attack again in the court."
The former world No.1's opponent in the last eight will be 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro and Federer is expecting a much sterner test than their last meeting at Melbourne Park which the Argentine lost 6-3 6-0 6-0 at the same stage of the competition.
"It's going to be tough against Del Potro. I don't look beyond that because he's coming up strong," Federer said.
"He has had a good year and he played all the top guys again in the last year and pushed us all."
"So I figure six months later since I played him in Cincinnati he's going to be a better player. He's got massive potential, and he'll be part of the top 10 for probably a long time."
Meanwhile, Federer believes his most recent adversary Tomic has a very bright future in the game after an impressive tournament which saw the 19-year-old beat Fernando Verdasco, Sam Querrey and Alexandr Dolgopolov.
"I think he's proved his point. Obviously now it's about keeping that up time and time again, day in, day out, you know, when he's not only just maybe playing on centre court, but also on the smaller courts," Federer said.
"You have to go through those times, as well."
"Yeah, and then find your way on centre court, and then when everybody expects it again from you that you deliver."
"So far he's handled it really well. He's improved a lot since last year, he's improved a lot since Davis Cup in Sydney (in September against Switzerland)."
"It can only be expected in some ways, but sometimes people want too much too soon."
"But I think he's really had a really difficult draw here, and he's made the most of it, in my opinion."
"I think he's had a wonderful tournament, and I think there's much more that's gonna come the Australian way, I would say."