Serena rolls into fourth round at French Open
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Serena Williams once again encountered little resistance in a third-round rout Friday at the French Open.
The top-seeded American blasted Romania's Sorana Cirstea with a 6-0, 6-2 romp in 61 minutes. She won 61 of the 94 total points played, broke serve five times and saved three break points against her serve.
Williams ran her career-best winning streak to 27 straight matches and is 70-3 overall since suffering a shocking first-round loss to Virginie Razzano at Roland Garros last year. There's been no hint of trouble for the 2002 champ this year, as Williams has dropped just six games in her first three matches.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I definitely feel like I'm getting into that zone that I have always wanted to be in (at the French Open)," said Williams, who hasn't even reached the semifinals in Paris since 2003.
Williams will next play Italy's Roberta Vinci. The 15th seed moved on with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 triumph over Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic.
There were no weather issues on Friday, allowing for the completion of the second round in addition to the start of the third. Thursday's rain delays forced a number of second-round matches into Friday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Maria Sharapova, the defending champion and this year's second seed, had to come back Friday to complete her second-round match against Canada's Eugenie Bouchard. The Russian star did just that, taking only 15 minutes to finish a 6-2, 6-4 triumph.
Russia's Maria Kirilenko and Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli also moved on with second-round wins Friday. The 12th-seeded Kirilenko blitzed Australia's Ashleigh Barty, 6-3, 6-1, while the 13th-seeded Bartoli battled past Colombia's Mariana Duque-Marino, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.
Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French winner and 2011 runner-up, also posted a second-round win with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 triumph over Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens, while Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland outlasted Estonia'a Kaia Kanepi, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 8-6.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Another third-round winner Friday was fifth-seeded Italian Sara Errani. The 2012 French Open runner-up thumped Germany's Sabine Lisicki, 6-0, 6-4. She'll next play Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro, a 6-4, 7-5 winner over Puerto Rico's Monica Puig.
Fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska finished the day's proceedings with a 6-3, 6-4 win over German Dinah Pfizenmaier and will next square off against 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic. The 14th-seeded Serb earned a 6-3, 6-2 pasting of Razzano.
Another former champion, 2009 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, also advanced Friday with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) victory over Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski. The Russian veteran will next face eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber, who outlasted American Varvara Lepchenko, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Third-round play continues Saturday with eight more matches. Sharapova will return to action against China's Zheng Jie, while third-seeded Victoria Azarenka will battle the crowd as well as France's Alize Cornet.