Williams lays down marker as rivals fall by the wayside in wide-open French Open
Serena Williams laid down a marker in what is becoming an open women’s French Open with a straight-sets victory over fellow American Danielle Collins.
For once, Williams arrived at a grand slam with muted expectations, having won just one match on clay in the buildup and with five years having passed since she went beyond the fourth round at Roland Garros – but expectations have now ramped up thanks to a combination of solid play from the 39-year-old and an exodus of leading names.
Third seed Aryna Sabalenka's 6-4 2-6 6-0 loss to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova leaves Williams as the highestranked player left in her half of the draw by a distance.
Her 6-4 6-4 victory over Collins was a step up from her first two matches, with Williams’s serve working better and her determination apparent.
The seventh seed said: “There are still a lot of matches, a lot of great players. You have to fight for every match and nothing comes easy.”
Sabalenka’s error-strewn exit has left the tournament without its top three women’s seeds inside the first week after world number one Ashleigh Barty was forced to retire through injury, after the much-publicised withdrawal of Naomi Osaka.
Pavlyuchenkova will next face Victoria Azarenka, who reached the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time since 2013 with an
impressive 6-2 6-2 victory over Madison Keys.
In the men’s singles, Daniil Medvedev's new-found love affair with Parisian clay continued as he eased into the fourth round.
The world number two had not won a match at Roland Garros prior to this year, but has dropped just one set in three contests, with his latest success a 6-4 6-2 6-4 victory over American Reilly Opelka.
“Clay in Roland Garros feels great this year,” said the
25-year-old. “Now I know to beat me, guys have to play good. This is always possible. It's better to feel like this than when you know you can lose to yourself just playing bad.
Medvedev's fondness for the red stuff is likely to be tested in the next match when he takes on a clay-court specialist for the first time in Chile's Cristian Garin, who defeated Marcos Giron 6-1 5-7 6-2 6-2.
Sixth seed Alexander Zverev saw off Laslo Djere 6-2 7-5 6-2 to reach round four, where he
will play Kei Nishikori, whose Swiss opponent Henri Laaksonen retired through injury.
Elsewhere at Roland Garros, Russian Yana Sizikova was arrested as part of a match-fixing investigation, the French Tennis Federation said.
The investigation is in relation to a match at last year’s French Open, when Sizikova and Madison Brengle lost to Romanians Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig.
Suspicionswereraisedbythe amount of money wagered on the Romanians to win a Sizikova service game in the second set, with the Russian serving two double faults.
French newspaper Le Parisien reported Sizikova was arrested at Roland Garros on Thursday and her hotel room searched before she was released on Friday.
The 26-year-old lost her firstround match this year alongside fellow Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, going down 6-1 6-1 to Australians Storm Sanders and Ajla Tomljanovic.