Venus Williams Crosses Huge Career Milestones with Opening-Round Win at Australian Open 2021

With her opening-round win at the Australian Open on Monday, veteran American tennis star Venus Williams crossed another major career milestone. The elder Williams is now at fifth in the all-time list of women players with the most match wins at Grand Slam events.

Williams now at fifth in the all-time list of players with most Grand Slam match wins

Venus’s sister, Serena Williams, tops the list with 357 match wins, followed by legends Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, and Steffi Graf with 306, 299, and 278 wins, respectively.

Venus’ straight-set win over Belgian Kirsten Flipkens on Monday took her tally of match wins to 270.

Winning a high percentage of points on her first serve and converting four of the 11 breakpoint opportunities, the 40-year-old dished out vintage tennis to leave her opponent chasing shadows.

Sending down three aces and firing her trademark double-handed scuds down the line and cross-court, Venus was truly in her element as she didn’t give so much a look to Flipkens in the contest, winning 74 points to the Belgian’s 59.

Venus Williams also moves up to fifth in the all-time list of players with the most match wins at Australian Open

In the process of winning her opening-round tie 7-5, 6-2, Venus also moved to fifth in the all-time list of players with the most number of wins at the Australian Open.

The veteran now has 54 match wins at Melbourne Park, 33 shy of her younger sibling who tops the tally with 87.

The legendary Margaret Court and former Grand Slam champions Maria Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport trail Serena at numbers with 60, 57, and 56 match wins, respectively at the Australian Open.

However, more than the career milestones, Venus would have an eye on the Australian Open title, which she surprisingly hasn’t lifted even once in her career. The last time the veteran came to doing so was in 2017 when she reached the title round.

However, she ran into her in-form sister who beat her to glory in straight sets to land her 23rd career Grand Slam title.

Read More: “She Never Stops”: Serena Williams Reveals Venus Williams’ Positive Impact on Her Career

At 40, this could be Venus’ last chance to set the record straight at Melbourne Park and if the win on Monday is any indication, she looks determined to do it in this edition of the Australian Open.