Serena Williams on Tuesday completed her 100th consecutive week as the world number one women’s singles player.
The American defeated Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium to mark the occasion and enter the second round of Australian Open.
It was Serena’s 223rd week as world’s top woman singles player. Last year, she became only the fourth player on the WTA tour to break into 200-week club, after Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis.
The record for occupying most consecutive number 1 weeks is still under Steffi Graf’s name. Graf was world’s undisputed women’s singles player from August 17, 1987 to March 10, 1991 – for an unprecedented 186 weeks.
Navratilova’s reign of 156 consecutive weeks from June 14, 1982 to June 9, 1985 is in second place, ahead of Evert’s 113 weeks from May 10, 1976 to July 9, 1978.
The German legend also holds the record for most weeks (377) as number one player. Navratilova and Evert have 332 and 260 weeks respectively. Hingis was on top for 209 weeks.
In terms of Grand Slam titles, Williams is on par with Navratilova and Evert on 18, four behind Graf’s record of 22.
