Serena Williams returns to action, wins at French Open
— -- Wasting no time at all after waiting two days to play, Serena Williams moved closer to her record-equaling 22nd Grand Slam title by easily reaching the French Open quarterfinals, while her sister Venus didn't fare as well.
Top-seeded Serena Williams dominated from start to finish during a 6-1, 6-1 victory over 18th-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in only 62 minutes Wednesday.
The match originally was scheduled for Monday, but showers forced cancellation of an entire day of play at Roland Garros for the first time in 16 years. Then, on Tuesday, more rain allowed for a total of only 2 hours of play around the grounds, and Williams' match was postponed again.
Finally in action, in Wednesday's opening match at Court Philippe Chatrier, Williams looked very much like a 21-time Grand Slam champion facing a 21-year-old who has only reached one major quarterfinal, losing at that stage in Paris last year.
Williams, the defending French Open champion, is trying to match Steffi Graf's Open-era mark of 22 major titles.
Venus Williams failed in her bid to reach the French Open quarterfinals for the first time in a decade, losing to eighth-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4 in the fourth round.
The ninth-seeded Williams, a seven-time major champion, started well enough, taking a 2-0 lead, before dropping eight games in a row. She was the runner-up to her sister Serena at Roland Garros in 2002, but her most recent trip to the quarterfinals in Paris came in 2006.
Against Bacsinszky, Williams managed to produce only six winners, while committing 24 unforced errors.
The match originally was supposed to be played Monday, but was postponed twice because of rain.
Backsinszky, a semifinalist at the French Open last year, can make it back to that stage if she beats 58th-ranked Kiki Bertens next.
Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal by beating 15th-seeded Madison Keys of the United States 7-6 (4), 6-3.
The 58th-ranked Bertens eliminated a seeded player for the third time in the tournament, after upsetting No. 3 Angelique Kerber, the Australian Open champion, in the first round and No. 29 Daria Kasatkina in the third round.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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