31 May 2019 12:10 am
Serena Williams cruised into the third-round of the French Open with a straight-set victory over Japanese qualifier Kurumi Nara yesterday.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion beat 27-year-old Nara 6-3, 6-2 in one hour seven minutes.
American 10th seed Williams will play compatriot Sofia Kenin next after her opponent, Canada’s Bianca Andreescu, withdrew with a shoulder injury.
Elsewhere, fellow American Amanda Anisimova reached the third-round after beating 11th seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-2.
She will next play Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu, who defeated Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Meanwhile, World number one Naomi Osaka survived another early scare to reach the third-round of the French Open.
Japan’s Osaka, 21, overcame a poor start to beat two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
World number one Novak Djokovic also gained a routine win over ‘lucky loser’ Henri Laaksonen to move into the third-round of the French Open.
Djokovic, who won the 2016 competition, secured a 6-1 6-4 6-3 victory on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
He is aiming for his second Grand Slam title of 2019 after winning the Australian Open in January.
The Serb will play unseeded Italian Salvatore Caruso after he knocked out France’s 26th seed Gilles Simon.
Fourth seed Dominic Thiem, the runner-up last year, also moved into round three with a 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 7-5 win over Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik.
One seed that did go out, however, was 17th seed Diego Schwartzman as he lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to fellow Argentine Leonardo Mayer.
(BBC)