Serena reaches 4th round

Cibulkova falls to Makarova in 3 sets

MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams is still on track in her bid to win a record 23rd Grand Slam title.

The six- time Australian Open winner beat fellow American Nicole Gibbs 6-1, 6-3 in the third round on Saturday, when she didn’t face a break point until she was serving for the match.

Dropping serve in that game was her only lapse in a match that then extended just beyond the hour — to 63 minutes to be precise. That made it one minute and one game longer than her only other match against Gibbs.

Williams will next play No. 16 Barbora Strycova, who beat No. 21 Caroline Garcia 6- 2, 7- 5.

Ekaterina Makarova led by a set and 4-0 but needed three sets and almost three hours to finally beat WTA Finals champion Dominika Cibulkova 6- 2, 6- 7 ( 3), 6- 3.

Makarova will play either 2016 semifinalist Johanna Konta, who beat her in the fourth round here last year, or former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki.

Mirjana Lucic- Baroni continued her unlikely run with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Maria Sakkari, and so did American qualifier Jennifer Brady.

She next plays Brady, ranked No. 116, who had never played in the main draw of a major before she qualified for this week.

The 21-year-old American had a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over 14th-seeded Elena Vesnina on Show Court 2, and is making the most of the occasion.

By saving five match points before rallying to beat Heather Watson in the second round, Brady effectively doubled her number of career wins.

On the men’s side, No. 8 Dominic Thiem beat Benoit Paire 6- 1, 4- 6, 6- 4, 6- 4 to set up a fourth-round match against No. 11 David Goffin, who ended Ivo Karlovic’s run 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

The 37- year- old Karlovic’s win in the first round set an endurance record — the 84 games in the win over Horacio Zeballos, which ended 22- 20 in the fifth, was an Open-era mark for the tournament. New year, same old story for Martin Kaymer