US Serena Williams serves the ball to
Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova during
their women’s first round match at the
Roland Garros 2016 French Tennis Open in
Paris on May 24, 2016. / AFP PHOTO /
PHILIPPE LOPEZ
Top seed and defending champion Serena
Williams cruised into the French Open third
round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Teliana
Pereira of Brazil.
It was a routine victory for the world
number one that keeps her on course to win
a 22nd Grand Slam title and equal the
modern day record of 22 set by Steffi Graf
in Paris in 1999.
“Today I played very well and I am happy
to have won,” Williams said in brief
courtside comments before making way for
big sister Venus who was next up on Court
Suzanne Lenglen against another American,
Louisa Chirico.
“She gets nervous if I watch her play so I
had better get back to the locker-room.”
The three-time winner of the French Open
needed just 66 minutes to see off the
challenge of the world number 81, who was
bidding to reach the third round of a Grand
Slam tournament for the first time.
Williams has yet to drop a set in the
tournament in contrast to last year when
she was taken to three sets in five of her
seven matches on the way to winning the
crown.
The 34-year-old American will next go up
against the winner of the tie between
France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Timea
Babos of Hungary with a place in the last 16
at stake.
