Two-time Australian Open champion and No.18 seed Victoria Azarenka claimed a Round of 16 spot at the year's first Grand Slam event, besting No.11 seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-1, 7-5 in a third-round match in Margaret Court Arena on Saturday.

"I knew I had to start my match strong and try to put as much pressure as I can to not let her dictate the play," Azarenka said. "I think I've done that really well in the first set.

"Of course, she was kind of able to step up a little bit in the second set. But I felt like I kept going to try to create my opportunities. When I did, I felt like I've done really well to convert them. Happy to be through in two sets."

With the win, Azarenka sets up a fourth-round meeting with qualifier Dayana Yastremska.

Here are some takeaways from Azarenka's latest victory over the 2017 Roland Garros champion Ostapenko:

Make it four: Azarenka and Ostapenko's proximity in the seedings predicted a close match, and their three previous matches had indeed been tight. However, all three of those meetings had gone Azarenka's way in the end, and she carried that upper hand into their latest tussle.

In fact, Azarenka's most recent win over Ostapenko came just two weeks ago in Brisbane. Ostapenko rebounded by winning last week's Adelaide title and re-entering the Top 10 for the first time since 2018, but Azarenka moved to 4-0 over the Latvian with Saturday's 1-hour and 23-minute victory.

Ostapenko has a solid 9-2 win-loss record in 2024, but both of her losses have been to Azarenka.

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Awesome in Oz: Azarenka has a history of excellent season starts in Australia, and this marks her 11th trip into the second week of the Australian Open. Her two Grand Slam titles both came at this event, which she won back to back in 2012 and 2013. She was a semifinalist in Melbourne as recently as last year.

Azarenka's victory over Ostapenko is her 50th career match-win at this tournament. The only other players to hit the 50-win milestone at the Australian Open in the Open Era are Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis.

Many happy returns: Before the match started, commentator Andrea Petkovic noted that the strength of Azarenka's return has been a key factor in her perfect record over Ostapenko, especially against the Latvian's second serve.

Petkovic was immediately proven correct as Azarenka barged to a quick break in Ostapenko's first service game, and Azarenka cruised through the set from there. Azarenka prevailed on six of Ostapenko's eight second-service points in the opening set.

That shot was even more important later, when Ostapenko served for the second set at 5-3. In that game, Azarenka regained her heavy returns and broke to get back on serve. Azarenka did not drop another game in the match as she marched to the 76th Top 10 win of her career.

It should be noted that Azarenka's serve was also on point, with 11 aces -- including three on break points in the final game of the match.

Yastremska awaits: Azarenka will now take on 23-year-old Yastremska for a spot in the quarterfinals. Azarenka leads their head-to-head 2-1 -- Yastremska won their first meeting in Canada in 2019, but Azarenka has won the last two in straight sets, including last year in Guadalajara.

Yastremska reached the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam event for the second time in her career with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 victory over No.27 seed Emma Navarro in 1 hour and 46 minutes.

Last week's Hobart champion Navarro came into their John Cain Arena showdown on a seven-match winning streak. The 22-year-old American has been on a run over the last 12 months, seeing her ranking skyrocket from No.148 to her current career-high of No.26.

But Yastremska, who cracked the Top 25 as a teenager, ended Navarro's winning streak, continuing on from her first-round win over No.7 seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova. Yastremska has now equaled her Round of 16 result from 2019 Wimbledon.

In the decisive third set, Yastremska broke for 2-0 with a powerful backhand winner down the line. Yastremska gritted out a tough game to consolidate for 3-0, which included three aces on deuce points, then cruised to victory. Yastremska finished the match with 36 winners to Navarro's five.