MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams played clean and powerful tennis to overwhelm Dayana Yastremska, 18, of Ukraine 6-2, 6-1 and reach the Australian Open’s fourth round.
Williams grabbed a pair of service breaks and a 4-0 lead after less than 15 minutes today and was well on her way to yet another easy-looking victory. When it ended, Williams placed her arm around Yastremska, who wiped away a tear.
“I thought she did really amazing. She came out swinging,” Williams told the crowd. “To be so young, I thought she came out really ready to go.”
The 16th-seeded Williams has now won 20 consecutive sets at Melbourne Park, having not dropped a set in her 2017 title run and winning three rounds here this year in straight sets. She did not play here in 2018 following the birth of her daughter.
Yamstremska received treatment during a medical timeout after she turned her right ankle while stretching to return a shot in the fifth game of the second set.
Williams won her 84th match at Melbourne Park, which is more than any other woman in Australian Open history. She has lost just 10 matches in 18 appearances at the tournament.
In other matches today, U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka avoided trouble with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 third-round victory over Hsieh Su-wei and sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina had to rally from 3-0 down in the third set before fending off Zhang Shuai 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in a match on Rod Laver Arena.
The fourth-seeded Osaka got a warning from the umpire after she spiked her racket in frustration when Hsieh took the first set with three breaks of service. To get her mind back on track, she said later, she had to pretend like it didn’t happen.
Osaka was getting flustered, unable to dictate rallies and seemingly unable to find a way to deal with Hsieh’s unusual style.
Hsieh, 33, who plays with a double-handed grip on both sides and uses a mixture of spin and slice and drop shots, has taken some top 10 players out of majors before.
Osaka found a way back, though, from 4-2 down in the second set when Hsieh was one point away from a 5-2 lead.
The 21-year-old Japanese player got the important break, rallying from 0-40 down to win five consecutive points and converting it with a deep, powerful backhand that Hsieh could barely reach.
Hsieh had a break-point chance in the next game but couldn’t convert, with Osaka saving it with another backhand winner that reinforced the change in momentum.
“Anything that I can do to stay here a bit longer, I tried to do,” said Osaka, who’d never been past the fourth round of a major before last year’s U.S. Open, where she beat Serena Williams in the final.
Both Svitolina and Zhang took medical timeouts during their almost three-hour match.
Zhang took a medical time out after the second set ended and again after the fifth game of the final set when Svitolina was trailing 3-2. Zhang had received frequent treatment between games as well for a right shoulder or back ailment.
Svitolina broke Zhang’s serve in the sixth game to level the set at 3-3, then fended off two break points in the following game before holding to lead 4-3.
Svitolina served for the match at 5-4 but Zhang broke to extend it. Svitolina hit a backhand passing shot to clinch the 11th game and take a 6-5 lead, then broke Zhang’s serve in the final game, clinching the 2-hour, 55-minute match when Zhang hit a forehand into the net.
“It was very, very tough match for both of us. She played unbelievable tennis,” Svitolina said. “I was … struggling. I just told myself, ‘I’m going to die or win.’ ”
On the men’s side, Kei Nishikori got through the third round in straight sets against Joao Sousa, getting a bit of relief after his first two matches went to five sets.
The eighth-seeded Nishikori had a 7-6 (6), 6-1, 6-2 win on Margaret Court Arena right after Osaka’s win over Hsieh.
Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open finalist, fended off 59 aces from Ivo Karlovic, 39, in the second round before winning the fifth-set tiebreaker 10-7.