Alicia Molik still perfectly remembers upsetting Venus Williams at the 2005 Australian Open as the former Australian tennis star says she felt “invincible” going into the matchup and was confident that the American would be in for something different this time.
Between 1999 and 2004, Molik and Williams played three times and the now seven-time Grand Slam champion won all of those meetings routinely in straight sets.
But when the two were about to face each other in the 2005 Australian Open round-of-16, Molik – now 43 years old – was playing the tennis of her life and being on an eight-match winning streak at the start of the year. Also, the Australian was coming off a big second part of the 2004 season that saw her win three titles and win a bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
However, even though Molik was in outstanding form, Williams was still widely regarded as one of the best players in the game and she was a four-time Slam champion at the time.
And when their Australian Open match started, it was clear right from the start that Molik would not go down easy this time. In the end, not only that Molik didn’t go down without a fight, but she also beat Williams 7-5 7-6 (3) to make her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in front of her home fans.
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