Serena Williams dominates; Venus falls

PARIS — Four days after she last played at the French Open, Serena Williams wasted no time getting off the court once she was back on it.

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The world No. 1 and defending champion here showed no rust having not played since Saturday because of persistent rain in Paris, the top seed sweeping aside No. 18-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-1 in 62 minutes.

Williams, 34, moves into the quarterfinals of a major for the 44th time in her career. She is now 58-11 at Roland Garros, having won titles here in 2002, 2013 and last year. Williams is seeking to equal Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 Grand Slam titles.

Williams and Svitolina, who is coached by Serena’s former rival Justine Henin, were meant to do battle on Monday before heavy rains set in over the area. The tournament suffered its first full-day washout on Monday, and Tuesday only two hours of play took place.

Venus Williams was in action across the grounds, as was American Madison Keys, the No. 15 seed. Keys fell to Kiki Bertens 7-6(4), 6-3, the Dutch player reaching her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal in 17 appearances. Bertens, ranked No. 58, upset Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in the first round. 

Venus, meanwhile, lost to No. 8 seed Timea Bacsinszky 6-2, 6-4, the Swiss player hitting her first ace of the match on match point. Bacsinszky and Bertens will face off, Bacsinszky having made the semifinals here a year ago, losing to Serena. 

Serena will play the winner of No. 12 Carla Suarez Navarro and unseeded Yulia Putintseva, who were also playing early Wednesday afternoon.

The rain had stopped on Wednesday, but the weather was not much improved, with players facing 60-degree conditions and a dark gray sky overhead. Rain is forecast for Thursday, Friday and Saturday for an event that has already had to deal with backlogs and headaches.

Tuesday top players Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep complained about playing in rainy conditions, Halep saying that they were not safe on court and Radwanska, the No. 2 seed, saying she was angry she was forced to play. The French Tennis Federation said it would not respond publicly to the players’ complaints.

There was little to complain about in Serena’s game on Wednesday, the American winning the first set in 26 minutes when she smacked a forehand winner down the line to hold at love. Svitlona, 21, offered a stiffer challenge in the 36-minute second set, but Williams held in a long sixth game with an ace, taking a 5-1 lead and never looked back.

She won the match when Svitolina hit a backhand long off a powerful Williams drive up the middle of the court. Williams then addressed the crowd on court in French, as she often does here.

Should the weather hold the next three days, the finalist on this half of the draw will be forced to play for four consecutive days, Wednesday to Saturday. The women’s final is scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Later on Wednesday 108th-ranked American Shelby Rogers was due out on court against No. 4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza. Rogers has beaten seed Karolina Pliskova, Irina-Camelia Begu and Petra Kvitova, the two-time Wimbledon winner, to make the quarterfinals at a major for the first time.

Sam Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champ, is due to play Tsvetana Pironkova, the world No. 102, in the other quarterfinal scheduled for Wednesday.

The men’s tournament has a similar backlog, with Novak Djokovic set to finish his fourth round match against Roberto Bautista Agut.

Venus Williams was making her first appearance in the fourth round of the French Open since 2010, and just fifth in 19 tries on the slow red clay. She and Serena were due to meet in the semifinals if both made it that far, in what would have been their first meeting in Paris since the 2002 final. The sisters lost in the third round of the doubles event together, as well.  

Wednesday's forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies, then rain moving in around 5 or 6 p.m. local time.