Williams rallies to advance
The No. 1-seeded women’s player drops the first set against Victoria Azarenka.
PARIS — At the outset, Serena Williams was grimacing and cursing and, worst of all, losing by a lot.
Then, suddenly, the 19time Grand Slam singles champion was putting shots right where she wanted, imposing her will as only she can. And the only anger Williams displayed was directed at her opponent, Victoria Azarenka, while they traded gestures and words over the chair umpire’s decision to replay a key point.
By the end, when she was aggressively grabbing the final six games and 10 of the final 12, all that really mattered was that the No. 1ranked Williams was not going to let this one get away. Williams erased deficit after deficit and beat former No. 1 Azarenka, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, Saturday in a third-round French Open match filled with momentum swings and one GIF-ready contentious exchange.
“I was just really down and out in that match, and I just feel like, you know, I just really zeroed in,” Williams said. “I really focused and I really wanted to win that.”
Williams is 28-1 in 2015, 9-0 in three-setters. The American improved to 50-11 at Roland Garros, making her the first woman since 1968, when Grand Slam tournaments admitted professionals, to have that many wins at each major.
She’s never been as comfortable or confident on the French Open’s dusty red clay as with grass or hard courts underfoot, exiting in the second round last year and the first in 2012. She’s been past the quarterfinals once in the last 12 years — in 2013, when she won her second French Open title.
Compare that with the 33-year-old’s trophies elsewhere: six apiece from the Australian Open and U.S. Open, five from Wimbledon.
Azarenka owns a pair of Australian Open trophies. She also was twice a U.S. Open finalist, but lost each time to Williams, who has won 16 of their 19 matchups. They tend to be close as can be: This month on clay in Madrid, Williams won after Azarenka double-faulted three times while serving for the match.
So maybe that collapse and Saturday’s, when Azarenka led by a set and 4-2 in the second, are an indication that Williams holds an edge in more than shotmaking. She produced nearly twice as many winners as Azarenka, 41 to 21.
“She really stepped it up,” the 27th-seeded Azarenka said. “Nobody is probably harder … for me to play against.”
In the fourth round, Williams will face the other remaining U.S. woman, 40thranked Sloane Stephens.
Men’s fourth-round pairings: Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal against 37thranked Jack Sock, the only American man left; No. 1 Novak Djokovic against Richard Gasquet, Andy Murray against Jeremy Chardy, and U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic against David Ferrer.
Djokovic and Murray advanced with straight-set victories over a pair of young Australians.
Murray won his 13th consecutive match by eliminating brash 20-year-old Nick Kyrgios, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, while Djokovic stretched his winning streak to 25 matches on all surfaces by defeating 19year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.