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When people say that she will be the next Serena, it seems like a leap too high,” said Serena Williams‘ childhood coach Rick Macci on Coco Gauff, back in 2023, after she won the US Open. Since then, the 20-year-old has earned many laurels, including the 2024 WTA Finals and a career-best ranking of No.3 while also leading American to a second United Cup title earlier this month. She’s proved her mettle but there’s still a long way to go. Especially in terms of reaching close to her idol Serena Williams’ Grand Slam accomplishments. However, it appears World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka is making strong strides to match Serena’s perfection at the Majors. But how?

For the unversed, the 23-time Grand Slam winner is part of an elite list of WTA icons. She’s among the top five women, since 2000, with the highest win percentage in the hard-court majors. And now, three-time Grand Slam winner Aryna Sabalenka has entered this list, rubbing shoulders with the former World No.1. Per OptaAce, the two-time Australian Open winner has achieved a stellar win percentage of 83.1 in women’s singles matches in hard court Grand Slams. With this milestone, she’s joined former legends like Jennifer Capriati, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, and also Serena Williams.

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With her fourth round victory, Sabalenka has also become the youngest player to win 18 consecutive Grand Slam matches on hard courts since Serena Williams. The former WTA pro achieved this milestone two decades ago, between 2002 and 2004.

Even last year, Sabalenka had nearly matched Serena with her on-court domination in Grand Slams. In the 2024 season, she won 19 singles across the three Majors, namely the Australian Open, French Open, and the US Open. It translates to a win percentage of 94.7, almost coming close to Serena’s win percentage of 96.2 in the four Majors from her 2015 season. If you are curious to know why only three majors for Sabalenka, well she had to miss the Wimbledon Championships due to a shoulder injury.

Coming back to stats and records, there’s another milestone awaiting Sabalenka at the Australian Open this month. She’s on the brink of repeating history after 26 years!

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Aryna Sabalenka on the verge of repeating Martina Hingis’ rare Australian Open record

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Can Aryna Sabalenka truly fill Serena Williams' shoes, or is it too soon to tell?

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Former Swiss player Martina Hingis won three back-to-back Australian Open titles from 1997 to 1999. The five-time Grand Slam winner was the last WTA player to achieve this feat. For almost three decades, no other player has been able to replicate that. But now, Aryna Sabalenka has a golden opportunity. She’s already clinched two successive AO trophies in 2023 and in 2024.

However, the Belarusian wasn’t even aware of this stat. She only got to know about the record last year in late December. Before the start of her new season at the Brisbane International, she mentioned, “Honestly, I didn’t know about that till probably few days ago when I saw, I don’t know how we say, Twitter tweet. Someone post, whatever, saying that it’s been a while since someone won three Australian Opens in the row. I mean, it’s little bit cool to achieve such an incredible goal, dream of so many young players.”

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Sabalenka’s main focus for now is to deliver her best without keeping Hingis’ record in mind. If she gets to the final and wins, the record will take care of itself.

Sabalenka has now moved into the QF round of the 2025 Australian. On Saturday, she beat teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva in straight sets with a scoreline of 6-1, 6-2. Are you backing Sabalenka to replicate Martina Hingis’ AO record? Let us know in the comments below.

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Can Aryna Sabalenka truly fill Serena Williams' shoes, or is it too soon to tell?