Williams has needed all her renowned fight to overcome French hope Kristina Mladenovic in a match punctuated by a almost three hour rain delay. A lone break in the final game gave Williams the first set after nearly an hour.
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After the American managed to ward off the Mladenovic challenge to take the first set 6-4, the second set was more closely fought where Serena let go of nine break point opportunities. In a match that lasted 2 hours and 13 minutes, Mladenovic put on a fight in the second set and nearly forced the world number one to play a third set. The French player, known for her doubles prowess, dropped serve for the first time in the match when she served to stay in the first set in game 10, 4-5 down.
“Obviously I played really well there, so today I don’t think I played extremely well all of the time, but being able to figure it out, I think that’s where having a lot of matches really helped me…” Williams lost at that stage in Paris in 2010, missed the tournament the next year, then lost in the first or second round in every appearance from 2012-15.
Former French Open runner-up David Ferrer will play in the fourth round at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament for a sixth consecutive year.
The 27-year-old Latvian conceded there was little to learn from the match itself, as it barely played out to Tsonga’s retirement. Her dropshots continued to trouble the 34-year-old and she also had four break points none of which she could ultimately convert. Williams, who at 35 is the oldest player in the women’s draw and is competing in her 19th French Open, now plays Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky, who reached the semi-finals previous year.
The American then drew on the wealth of experience that has earned her 70 titles to save a set point before finally sealing victory when Mladenovic belted a forehand wide.
There were no breaks of serve in the second set, though Mladenovic twice held from 0-40 down.
“It’s not me”, said Williams, who will next face Ukrainian 18th seed Elina Svitolina.
Four strong: Venus and Serena are joined by Americans Madison Keys and Shelby Rogers in the fourth round, the latter two making their debut at this stage in Paris.
It was the third time that Thiem and Zverev faced each other in four weeks, with Thiem extending his winning record to 3-0.
Rafael Nadal’s shock Roland Garros exit due to injury has opened the door for several players including one of the rising stars of the game, Dominic Thiem. The former Roland Garros champion had beaten Svitolina in all seven of their previous meetings, including in Paris past year in the quarterfinals, but the eighth time proved to be the charm for Svitolina.
In the women’s draw, last year’s semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky opened play on Court Philippe Chatrier against Pauline Parmentier.
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Double trouble: After they won their singles on Saturday Venus and Serena Williams teamed up in doubles, winning the first set against Vitalia Diatchenko and Galina Voskoboeva before fading light forced their match off court.
