Serena advances in three sets in French Open

Eventually, this looked a little bit like one of those Serena Williams comebacks of old, filled with topnotch strokes and full-throated screams of “Come on!” For the first half-hour in the French Open’s second round Thursday, the 23-time Grand Slam tournament champion generally played the way you would expect from someone competing in her first Grand Slam in 16 months and first since she gave birth to a daughter in September. Then suddenly, Williams was back. Animated. Determined. Dominant, even. Erasing a deficit of a set and a break, Williams recalibrated her shots and beat 17th-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match that ended shortly before dusk. “I lost the first set, and I thought, ‘I’ve got to try harder. I’ve got to just try harder.’ And Serena came out,” Williams told the crowd, leaning forward and breaking into laughter. “Every day is a great day for me. I’m going to be here, fighting my heart out.”