Danielle Collins and Frances Tiafoe were fearless, and thrilled in their upsets

Danielle Collins took  out the No. 2 seed Kerber while Frances Tiafoe ousted No. 20 Dimitrov, putting both Americans into the quarterfinals of a grand slam for the first time.

The Australian Open seemed to be proceeding along according to the script, with two of the Big Three—Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic—dismissing their much younger opponents to make it to the quarters and fourth round. But the script was completely thrown out the windows on Saturday, with shock exits from the six-time AO champ Federer, the No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber, and former ATP Finals winner Grigor Dimitrov at the hands of much younger players.

Frances Tiafoe and Danielle Collins were the American upstarts who no one saw getting to the quarterfinals at the first grand slam of the year.

Danielle Collins has simply been a revelation from the very start of the tournament. Prior to the shock defeat of Angelique Kerber, Collins took out top players Julia Georges (No. 14) and Caroline Garcia (19) earlier in the week. One of the best American women on the Tour, the 25 year-old came through the college tennis route from the University of Virginia, and has been on fire since her first match at Melbourne.

But still nothing prepared fans for the thrilling game the world No. 35 employed to knock out Kerber, who just couldn’t handle any of Collins’ weapons, and not for lack of trying, 6-0, 6-2. It wasn’t that the German was out of gas, Collins was just sensational: not only playing fearlessly, powerfully, lightning fast, but also incredibly smart. She outmaneuvered her better-ranked player, at every turn, and she played like The Flash. Watching her shake up things in the WTA is a definite highlight of this year’s AO.

“I may not have won a Grand Slam match before this [but] I got to tell you I think it’s going to keep happening,” Collins said in her on-court interview. “When I was in college, my coaches told me to go out, go after it and believe in my shots. All kudos to my coaching squad over there in the corner, they gave me a plan and I just did the job.”

Wouldn’t it be exciting if this American talent gets to the finals?

Saturday was a day of change at the Australian Open, with Frances Tiafoe matching Collins’ impact, taking out former ATP Finals winner Grigor Dimitrov. On his 21st birthday, Tiafoe celebrating by wearing down the Bulgarian in four sets, 7-5, 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 7-5, in three and a half hours.

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It was a massive win for the American-born No. 39, who will likely move up to No. 30 by the end of the tournament. A raucous crowd sang happy birthday to the young talent, and chanted T-I-A-F-O-E as the dynamic player celebrated LeBron James-style.

It was a tennis coup and another signal that the next generation of players are hungry and knocking at the door. No one seemed more stunned by the results than Dimitrov’s coach, Andre Agassi, who just looked shell-shocked as the match went on.

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Dimitrov was the third top player that Tiafoe has taken out, after Andreas Seppi and most impressively, Kevin Anderson.

But the major talent will have his hands full taking on the 17-time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal, who has been ruthless throughout the tournament.

“If I can play him in the quarterfinals of a Slam, he better get ready,” he said, laughing, in his on-court interview, according to USA Today. “But I better to go to bed now.”

Fourth round matches continue tonight and Monday, including Alexander Zverev, gunning for his first grand slam success.

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