Which players have gone the longest before finally getting a win over a certain player? Some notable examples:
Mauresmo- Davenport. Mauresmo broke a 13 match losing streak in a 7 year span, before defeating Davenport at the 2006 Beijing tournament.
Venus-Serena, Miami 2005. Venus's first win over Serena in nearly 4 years, breaking a 6 match losing streak (including 4 consecutive Slam final defeats).
Kuznetsova-Henin, Berlin 2007. First win over Henin in 4 years, breaking a 10 match losing streak.
Natasha Zvereva-Graf, Wimbledon 1998. First ever win over Graf in 10 years, breaking a 19 match losing streak.
There's just some I thought were notable. Keep adding more!
Schnyder-Ivanovic comes to mind. Patty had a 4-0 record against Ana until Ana went on a 5 match winning run against her. Patty got her first win over Ana in 6 years at Dubai in 2011.
It took Daniela almost exactly 10 years to beat Venus. She suffered 10 consecutive losses between 2001 and 2010 but then finally beat her in their 11th meeting at Easbourne, 2011 (Venus's first tournament since the AO earlier that year)
Sugiyama went 10 years between her lone 2 wins over Hingis (1996 Olympics - 2006 Wimbledon). She lost 5 matches in that span. Peak Pierce ended a 7 year, 4 match losing streak by beating Davenport at RG in 2005. Her last win was at Amelia Island in 1998.
Pierce snapped a 6 year, 4 match losing streak when she beat Venus at the Olympics in 2004.
Pierce snapped a 2 year, 7 match losing streak vs Hingis by beating her at RG in 2000. Also ended a 14 set losing streak.
This is why I find those will Sharapova ever beat Serena threads so dumb. At some point if you are a good enough player, you are going to catch your opponent on an off day.
You should change the title to "before beating a player" or at least "before or between".
There is no "between" when a player beats her opponent for the first time ever after many losses.
When Davenport beat Venus at 2004 Stanford it was her first win over Venus since 2000 Linz. From memory was a 5-6 match streak. Will double check later.