Serena Claims Milestone Win Over Diyas

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA – Eight-time Miami Open champion Serena Williams extended her dominant run in Key Biscayne with a win over Zarina Diyas, 7-5, 6-3.

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Last time these two met, Diyas only took two games off of Williams in her 54-minute loss at Indian Wells last year. The Kazakh wasn’t keen to repeat the experience, and gave the American plenty of trouble throughout the match.

Diyas had Williams on the ropes early on, her pace and quickness around the court troubling the World No.1’s normally reliable game. But Williams hasn’t lost a match in Miami since 2012, and she wasn’t about to do it today. She punished any short serve that came her way with her powerful game and let the crowd fire her up to take the first set.

With a set under her belt Williams played more freely, finding her all-court game to get ahead 4-0. But Diyas had a second wind late in the match, playing more aggressively to rattle off three straight games and erode the lead to 4-3. The eight-time Miami champion remained unbothered, though, closing out the match in just over an hour and a half.

But beyond reaching the Miami Open fourth round for a whopping fifteenth time and extending her tournament win-loss record to 75-7, the win is a major milestone in Williams’ decorated career.

Williams now owns 750 career match wins across all levels, a 750-125 lifetime record. She currently sits seventh on the all-time list for match wins, closing in on Lindsay Davenport’s record of 753 wins. Martina Navratilova holds the all-time record with 1442 wins.

WTA All-Time Match Win Leaders
Martina Navratilova – 1442
Chris Evert – 1,309
Steffi Graf – 902
Virginia Wade – 839
Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario – 759
Lindsay Davenport – 753
Serena Williams – 750

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