Ever since he was prominent as a junior, people have been waiting for Grigor Dimitrov to make his move into the corps of tennis elites. Expectations were unfairly high for a long time, but then again we were used to the Roger Federers and Rafael Nadals of the world, who took the game by storm at an incredibly young age.

We have become accustomed to the fact that players who don’t challenge for Slams in their teens don’t challenge for Slams at all. Even Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic showed they could hang with the top two at a younger age, although they would not come through to win the big events for several years.

So when Dimitrov—who was affectionately known as “Baby Fed” for several years due to their similar playing styles—started playing consistently on tour, people were waiting with bated breath for him to go deep in Slams and make a push for the top 10 immediately. When that didn’t happen, people pushed Dimitrov to the back of their minds, along with the Bernard Tomics and Ryan Harrisons of the world.

That was a mistake. When Dimitrov finishes polishing off his game, he can play with anyone. Last year, he moved into the top 30 and matched up fairly well against the top players in the world. He beat Djokovic in Madrid and took Nadal to three sets in both Monte Carlo (on clay, no less) and in Cincinnati. And he beat world No. 3 David Ferrer in Stockholm to take home his first career title.

Because of his slow rise over the last year, it should have come to no surprise that Dimitrov reached his first-ever major quarterfinal in Melbourne. It’s why I tipped him as my dark horse for this tournament in our contributors’ picks preview. He has been steadily making strides and is ready to compete with the best in the world.

Don’t view it as a poor performance that his fourth-round match against Roberto Bautista-Agut was so close. This was the same Bautista-Agut that just hit Juan Martin Del Potro off the court two matches ago. Both players, Bautista-Agut included, played this match like top-10 players. Neither was perfect, but then again few players ever are. Dimitrov winning this match is an important accomplishment in its own right, even without the reward being his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Speaking of Bautista-Agut, this is going to go down as a breakthrough tournament for him. He has always been talented but has never been able to string full sets or matches together. Here, he just played a full week of quality power tennis. There is no reason that we shouldn’t expect this from him in the future. If he continues playing like this, reaching the second week of a Slam will become the norm, not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

But today, with the win, this is all about Grigor Dimitrov. He will no longer be known exclusively as Maria Sharapova’s boyfriend. He has outlasted her this tournament, and there is no reason not to expect similar performances from him in the future. His opponent next round will most likely be Rafael Nadal. That will be Dimitrov’s first real test of his mature Grand Slam career. Over the next few years, we finally will start to find out whether he can take down the best in the game and finally join them at the pinnacle of this sport.