Victoria Azarenka’s straight-set defeat of Jelena Ostapenko on Saturday saw her join some elite company in the process.
As well as progressing to the fourth round of Australian Open 2024, Azarenka tallied her 50th win overall at the Grand Slam tournament.
Azarenka – the last woman to defend the women’s singles title at Melbourne Park when she won back-to-back in 2012 and 2013 – overcame Ostapenko 6-1 7-5.
READ MORE: Azarenka sinks Ostapenko's AO 2024 campaign
The 34-year-old has won more matches at the Australian Open than any other Grand Slam tournament, and becomes the sixth female player to hit that landmark total,
She joins an illustrious list, headed by Serena Williams.
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It is quite the cast of superstars to join. Indeed, between them, those five players ahead of Azarenka on the list have combined for 43 major singles titles.
Azarenka’s first-round victory over Camila Giorgi saw her overtake the great Steffi Graff (47) for match wins at AO and now she has Hingis firmly in her sights.
Winning 50 AO matches is a rare feat.
Indeed, only five men have ever achieved this milestone in the Open era – Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Stefan Edberg and Andy Murray.
Azarenka, who won her two Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park, is the only player remaining in the women’s singles to have won the title more than once, after Naomi Osaka lost in the first round to Caroline Garcia.
In terms of match wins – as well as titles – AO is Azarenka’s favourite Grand Slam.
Her record is a stunning 50-13 in Melbourne, while at the US Open, where she is a three-time finalist, her record is 46-16.
She is a combined 96-29 at the hard-court Grand Slams, while her win-loss records at Wimbledon and Roland Garros are 36-14 and 28-16 respectively.
Azarenka has six wins from seven matches so far this year, and after beating 10th-ranked Ostapenko she has now won her past three meetings with top-10 players at Slams, after triumphs over Jessica Pegula (AO 2023) and Daria Kasatkina (Wimbledon 2023).
In the last 16 for the second straight year, Azarenka joins Serena Williams as the only other female player to reach back-to-back AO fourth rounds aged 33 or over.
Azarenka is far from done yet.
After emerging triumphant from her battle between major champions, she can look forward to a fourth-round tie against qualifier Dayana Yastremska.
DRAW: Australian Open 2024 women's singles
She holds a 2-1 record head-to-head against the Ukrainian and won their previous meeting on hard court in Guadalajara last year.
Given her formidable AO track record and impressive early-season form, no player will relish the prospect of facing Azarenka in the second week.
Should she go all the way, it would be 11 years and one day since her last AO title.
No male or female player has ever before gone at least a decade between successive Grand Slam titles.