Serena Williams faced a harder challenge than expected in 7: 6 (7: 5), 6: 2 in the third round against Russian Anastasia Potapua. The 19-year-old, ranked only 101 in the world, missed two fixed balls in the first set to serve herself, and was later in the tiebreaker 5-3 before Williams won four points in a row.

The seven-time Australian Open winner will meet Arena Sabalenka of Belarus, who is ranked first in the standings, in the round of 16 in the Grand Slam, which also remains without a specific loss. Before her trip to Australia, Sabalenka won three championships in a row: in Ostrava and Linz at the end of the old season, in Abu Dhabi at the start of the new year.

With Naomi Osaka and Garbini Muguruza, the two Grand Slam winners compete against each other in another round of 16. Osaka, winner in Melbourne 2019, has only lost 13 games in the first three matches, and Muguruza finalists last year were with only ten games. The Spaniard won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017.