Serena Williams beats heat and Hantuchova

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Five-time champion Serena Williams has won more matches at the Australian Open than any other woman, notching career win No. 61 Friday as she advanced to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Daniela Hantuchova on another scorching day at Melbourne Park.

Williams converted her fourth match point on No. 31-seeded Hantuchova's serve. It was Williams' 24th consecutive win on the tour dating to August, and improved her career record to 61-8 at the Australian Open.

She equaled Margaret Court's Australian Open mark of 60 wins with her second-round victory, and now has matched Lindsay Davenport's record of 69 main-draw matches here in the Open era.

The temperature hit 102 degrees during early play Friday and was expected to rise to 111.

Last night, fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro was eliminated in the biggest upset of the tournament, beaten, 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, by Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.

It was Bautista Agut's first win in seven matches against a top-10 player. The match lasted 3 hours and 53 minutes and ended at 1:20 a.m. today after a long day of match suspensions and delays due to extreme heat and storms.

"I think he played a great match over nearly four hours," del Potro said. "But in every [important] moment . . . he played an unbelievable shot."

Melbourne is known for its wacky weather. But the heat wave that started Tuesday and is forecast to end on the weekend has brought what meteorologists are estimating as the longest stretch of weather this hot since 1908.

There were the unlucky Thursday morning starters such as Maria Sharapova, who took 3 1/2 hours to win her match against Karin Knapp played in 109-degree heat. She and others cooled off at changeovers with ice vests on their bodies and ice collars around their necks. Some called trainers to complain of head spins, blurred vision and cramping from dehydration.

By midafternoon, the Australian Open invoked its "Extreme Heat Policy" and suspended play for four hours on outdoor courts and closed the retractable roofs at Rod Laver and Hisense Arena. That allowed other stars like No. 1 Rafael Nadal, No. 6 Roger Federer and No. 2 Victoria Azarenka to play indoors, and all of them won.