Azarenka advances to the Round of 16 with win over Ostapenko.

Victoria Azarenka, a two-time champion, improved her career record against Jelena Ostapenko to 4-0 on Saturday with a 6-1 7-5 win in the third round of the Australian Open.

Azarenka won both of her Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park, and the 34-year-old demonstrated how much she enjoys the tournament with her fourth consecutive victory over the 2017 French Open champion.

The 18th seed will face Dayana Yastremska, who defeated 27th seed Emma Navarro 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.

"I knew it's going to be a tough battle," Azarenka said after defeating the Latvian, who had begun the season by winning the title in Adelaide and returning to the top ten.

"I felt like I played a really, really good first set, really kept the pressure.

"She's a Grand Slam champion, she's been in amazing form coming off the title so I knew she was going come back and play strong.

"I was just trying to find an opportunity in that second set to get one break point at a time and try to get my chances."

Azarenka got off to a strong start at Margaret Court Arena, breaking Ostapenko in the second game and leading 3-0. She broke again in the sixth game and was serving for the set before her opponent could offer any meaningful resistance.

Ostapenko earned her first break point in that game, but squandered it with an unforced error, allowing Azarenka to win the set with an ace.

The 11th seed showed much more urgency in the second set, converting a break point in the fourth game to take a 5-2 lead, but Azarenka broke back in the ninth and held serve in a tense 10th to level the match.

The Belarusian then took advantage of Ostapenko's errors and a double fault to break her again, saving four break points in the final game before winning in an hour and 23 minutes.

"Happy to close it out. There was a close one in the last game," Azarenka said.

"I was going to make her work really hard to earn the point and put a little bit pressure. I was able to convert my opportunities."

SportsLigue