It was sister Venus Williams who inflicted Serena Williams’ first loss at the Australian Open, in the second round in 1998. Serena reached the third round in 1999, only to be defeated by France’s Sandrine Testud. She again made it one match deeper into the draw in 2000, but 16th seed Elena Likhovtseva ousted Serena in the fourth round. Taking a step-by-step approach, Serena reached the quarterfinals in 2001, where she was defeated by Martina Hingis. Serena’s next defeat at Melbourne Park did not come until 2006 (two titles, and two years where she didn’t play the tournament intervened) when Daniela Hantuchova defeated her in the third round. Her last defeat (with the 2010 Australian Open yet to conclude) was against Jelena Jankovic in the 2008 quarter-finals.
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