Following a 6-3 6-2 victory over Tamira Paszek and going 46-0 in Grand Slam openers, Serena Williams defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-0 6-4 in the second round of the Australian Open and won an impressive 500th match in her career. Even more so, it’s Serena’s 16th consecutive match win at the Australian Open, the tournament she has won five times.
Here’s what the 13-time Grand Slam champion, who now doesn’t even know what to pick for her next milestone, said about the achievement:
It’s great. I haven’t even thought about it. It’s like the ultimate. It’s really, really cool. The first thing I asked, of course, Is there anyone that achieved a thousand? I guess not. I never will get there either. But it’s really cool. 500 is a lot of matches to play, let alone to win, so it’s pretty cool.
Two points before the end of the match against Zahlavova Strycova, Serena twisted her right ankle, but luckily there was no pain and it was a different ankle from the one she injured this month in Brisbane. After the match, Serena assured the fans that both her ankles are doing good.
Additional info: Together with Andy Roddick Serena is playing the mixed doubles and they are facing top seeds Kveta Peschke and Mike Bryan in the first round. Serena already has to Grand Slam mixed doubles titles to her name, but she hasn’t played that type of competition at a major tournament since 1999.
serena williams always the best 🙂 best of luck for the rest of the ournement
Congrats to Serena. This will be the toughest road for Serena to win an Aussie Open. Azarenka, Clijsters and Sharapova are all playing well.
Now Serena has got through the first few rounds she could be very hard to beat.