2021 French Open: Serena Williams advances to the fourth round
Veteran women's singles tennis star Serena Williams reached the fourth round of the 2021 French Open at the Roland Garros on Friday. Serena, who has won 23 career Grand Slam honors, beat Danielle Rose Collins 6-4, 6-4 in straight sets. Elsewhere, Victoria Azarenka advanced to the fourth round by beating Madison Keys in straight sets. Here are further details.
Collins gives Serena a good fight
In the second game of the first set, Collins held herself after going 40-0 down. Serena broke Collins next to go 4-3 up before Collins saved a set point to make it 5-4. Serena won the first set eventually, firing down several aces. In the second set, Collins broke Serena twice to go 4-1 up. Serena fought back and made it 4-4 before prevailing.
Serena will face Rybakina in the fourth round
Serena will face Elena Rybakina in the fourth round, who beat Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-4 in straight sets. Rybakina hit 12 aces in the match against Vesnina and did not face a single break-point. For Serena, this was her 69th match win at Roland Garros. She now has a 69-13 record here. This was Serena's 365th career Grand Slam match victory.
Key stats of Serena from the match
Serena hit five aces in the match and also committed five double faults. She earned an 82% win on the first serve and converted four out of eight break points. She also won a total of 64 points, besides sealing 12 games.
Azarenka thrashes Keys, will face Pavlyuchenkova next
15th seed Azarenka has sailed into the last 16 after she dominated the scenes against Keys 6-2, 6-2. The two-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one Azarenka punished Keys, who hit 33 unforced errors on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Azarenka will be up against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova next. Pavlyuchenkova stunned third seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 2-6, 6-0.
