Tennis

Serena Williams has set up a heavyweight fourth-round showdown with her old foe, Maria Sharapova on Monday, after she took only 75 minutes to knock out German 11th seed Julia Goerges 6-3 6-4 at the French Open. Just seven matches into her comeback following a maternity break, Williams ranked 451st impressed all those watching on the 10,000-seater Suzanne Lenglen Court — including former boxing champion Mike Tyson — by pulverizing her opponent.

Second seed Alexander Zverev was forced to save a match point before beating Damir Dzumhur in five sets to reach the fourth round of the French Open. The German was given all sorts of problems by the world number 29 from Bosnia-Herzegovina before winning 6-2 3-6 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-5.

Rafael Nadal, who hasn't lost a set at the French Open since 2015, completed another win in straight sets at Roland Garros on Thursday to reach the third round of the Grand Slam event. Nadal is once again the big favorite in Paris following a tremendous clay-court season, and the 10-time champion lived up to the status by easily dispatching Guido Pella of Argentina 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Former champion Novak Djokovic posted another straight-sets win at the French Open on Wednesday to reach the third round of the clay-court tournament. Facing Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar, the Serb delivered a solid display to prevail 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4 and move into the third round for the 13th time.

The long wait is seemingly over. Serena Williams on Tuesday is set to take part in her first Grand Slam event since the 2017 Australian Open and renew her quest for yet another singles title. The Three-time champion returns with a French Open first-round match against Kristyna Pliskova on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Novak Djokovic opened his French Open campaign with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva on Monday. The 12-time Grand Slam winner was well below his best on Court Philippe Chatrier, though, and dropped serve three times against the world number 134 Dutra Silva.