MELBOURNE, Jan. 17 (PNA/Xinhua) — Top seed Serena Williams blew past Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets to reach fourth round and set a record of 61 Australian Open match wins here on Friday.
Williams didn’t face any serious danger in her victory over No.31-seeded Hantuchova, whose only win in their 10 head-to-head matches came in 2006.
Williams was off the court in one hour and 20 minutes and had conceded just 12 games in three straight-set wins this week.
The American equalled Margaret Court’s Australian Open mark of 60 wins with her second-round victory, and beat that in the third round when she also matched Lindsay Davenport’s record of 69 main-draw matches here in the Open era, which means she’ll set another record just by showing up on Sunday.
The five-time Australian Open champion later withdrew from the doubles, avoiding any extra exposure to the blazing sun during the heat wave that was gripping Melbourne. (PNA/Xinhua)