Serena Williams Advances As She Faces Brutal Path To 24th Major Title

Serena Williams won her 91st match at the Australian Open with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win over Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round on Sunday.

The seven-time champion found it tough for significant portions of the match but hanged tough to eke out a win against the seventh seed who gave it her all across its full two-hour-nine-minute duration.

She faces a potentially brutal path to her record-tying 24th major title.

Williams, 39, would have to beat the world’s No. 1, 2 and 3 players in order to tie Australian Margaret Court atop the record books.

Serena, the No. 10 seed, will face No. 2 Simona Halep in the quarterfinals, could meet No. 3 Naomi Osaka in the semis and then could be rewarded with world No. 1 Ash Barty in the final.

Williams first had to deal with a spirited performance from Sabalenka whom she dispatched 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in their first meeting in 2 hours, 9 minutes, denying Sabalenka the first Grand Slam quarterfinal showing of her career.

“It was obviously real important because I didn’t want to be out of the tournament, so it felt good to kind of clutch that in the end and get through that,” Williams said.