Williams sisters reach 3rd round; Svitolina stunned

Venus Williams and Serena Williams advanced to the third round of the French Open in doubles.

The American sisters beat Sara Errani and Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-2, clinching the first set just as rain started to fall on Court 7.

The Williams-Williams duo last competed at a major tournament together at Wimbledon in 2016. They won their 14th Grand Slam title in doubles at the All England Club.

In women singles, fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina surprisingly lost 6-3, 7-5 in the third round of the French Open against Mihaela Buzarnescu, who never had won a Grand Slam match until this week.

Svitolina reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2015 and 2017 and was coming off a second consecutive title in Rome on red clay.

She also came into the French Open with a chance to get to No 1.

But the 31st-seeded Buzarnescu, continued the surge that has seen her rise nearly 350 spots in the rankings over the past year.

She has not dropped a set yet and will face US Open runner-up Madison Keys in the fourth round.

US Open runner-up Madison Keys overcame some late-match shakiness to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros for the second time in three years.

The 13th-seeded American built a big lead then barely avoided getting pushed to a third set before beating 21st-seeded Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-1, 7-6 (7) in a matchup of powerful baseliners.

Keys compiled a 30-8 edge in winners and started quickly, going up by a set and a break at 3-1 in the second. But she began making more and more mistakes, allowing Osaka to take 10 consecutive points and three games in a row during one stretch.

 In the tiebreaker, Osaka went ahead 4-1, and held set points at 6-5 and 7-6. Keys held steady, though, and was able to convert her second match point when Osaka double-faulted.

Earlier on Thursday, 36-year-old Serena came from a set and break down to defeat Australia's Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in women singles second round match.

Williams had cruised through her opening round match against Kristyna Pliskova in what was a record 317th win at the Slams.

But Thursday was a tougher proposition for the American who was playing just her sixth match of 2018.