Serena Cruises Into French Quarters: Venus, Keys Fall
World number one and defending champion Serena Williams bulldozed her way into the French Open quarterfinals, moving past Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-1 in just 62 minutes on Wednesday.
“I think it’s definitely a whole new ballgame,” said Serena. “I didn’t play my best in the third round and I really wanted to come out and do a lot better and prove that I can do better than that.”
While many players struggled with the slow and heavy conditions caused by the rain, it was no hindrance to Serena, who fired 27 winners to just 17 unforced errors. She converted on six of her eight break point chances, and was more aggressive at the net, winning eight of the nine points at the net.
Serena will take on Yulia Putintseva in the final eight. The Russian upset 12th seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro 7-5, 7-5 in her fourth-round contest on Wednesday.
Serena’s older sister Venus did fare as well on Wednesday, as the eighth-seeded American fell to Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky 6-2, 6-4. She will take on Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands who, like Bacsinszky, knocked off an American on Wednesday.
Bertens defeated Madison Keys 7-6(4), 6-3. After sneaking out the first set in a tie-breaker, Bertens converted the only break point of the second set and was perfect on serve to move through in straight sets.
