In the best possible way, Alize Cornet is a self-styled drama queen.

And she reckons her Australian Open quarter-final opponent Danielle Collins fights like a lion.

It makes for an intriguing clash at Melbourne Park on Wednesday between two players whose public profiles in Australia have skyrocketed in the last day or so.

Collins rightly won plenty of plaudits for the way she hung tough for three hours in searing heat on Monday to see off the challenge of Elise Mertens in the fourth round.

The No.27 seed was then upstaged by French veteran Cornet, who burst into tears of joy and relief after finally breaking her grand slam quarter-final duck at the 63rd time of asking with a shock win over Simona Halep.

And there was barely a dry eye in the house at Rod Laver Arena after Cornet's emotional post-match interview with Jelena Dokic, whose own complicated back story is so well known to Australian audiences.

"I can't hide my true nature; if I'm a drama queen for the people, then I am," said the unseeded 32-year-old from Nice.

"What I know is that I give everything I have on the court, and I think that's why sometimes there is drama.

"When you play against a player like Halep that does the same as you, which is not letting go a single point, fighting and grinding, this makes drama by definition.

"But that's who I am.

"I think people want to see truth on the court, you know, and honesty.

"So there is a good side and bad side sometimes.

"Right now it's all about the good side."

The 28-year-old Collins - whose best-ever showing at a major was a run to the semis on her Melbourne Park debut in 2019 - also wears her heart prominently on her sleeve.

"It could be some drama this match for sure," said Cornet.

"I see how she is on the court - she's like a lion.

"Oh my God, she impresses me because she's so intense.

"I'm intense too - but I think she's next-level intense."

It was a compliment Collins was happy to accept.

"Certainly I think we are both competitors, and I think that all of us can appreciate each other's toughness and tenacity and what we do," she said.

The winner will play either Polish seventh seed Iga Swiatek or unseeded Finnish veteran Kaia Kanepi for a spot in Saturday night's final.