Serena, Ferrer through after rain delay in Paris

PARIS: The 11th-seeded Ferrer came out on top from an all-Spanish match with Feliciano Lopez on Saturday, winning 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-1. He’ll next face either seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych or Pablo Cuevas.

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.

Ferrer lost to Rafael Nadal in the Roland Garros final in 2013.

In the “Next Gen” matchup of the tournament, 13-seed Dominic Thiem outlasted a strong fight from 19-year-old Alexander Zverev. The pair—both junior French Open finalists—played twice already this year, with Thiem winning both matches, and the 22-year-old continued his record against the young German with a 6–7, 6–3, 6–3, 6-3 victory on Saturday.

In the fourth round, Thiem will play Marcel Granollers, who got a walkover after Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal on Friday.

Holder Serena Williams survived her toughest challenge yet at this year’s French Open as she battled into the fourth round with a 6-4, 7-6(10) win over French woman Kristina Mladenovic in a rain-disrupted match on Saturday.

Before the match was suspended for rain, France’s Kiki Mladenovic was giving No 1 Serena Williams a good fight on Chatrier. After going head-to-head for the first few games, Serena saved three break points in a long ninth game to break Mladenovic for the first time, before winning the first set 6–4.

In the second set, Mladenovic played some crafty dropshots and fought off nine break points to keep the match level at 4-all. Serena responded with a big hold for 5–4, but Mladenovic held her ground. As the rain started to come down in Paris, Mladenovic fired an ace to force a second set tiebreak.

After more than two hours of rain delay (and a universal power outage that affected broadcasting), Serena and Mladenovic returned to Chatrier to resume the match and the Frenchwoman came out firing.

She quickly went up 3–0, but Serena steadied and earned herself a few points. A Serena backhand sent long put Mladenovic ahead 5–2, but back on her serve, the World No 1 found a way to even the score at 5-all. From there, Mladenovic saved four match points before Serena was finally able to convert on the fifth to seal the win, 6–4, 7–6 (10).

18-seed Elina Svitolina knocked out 14-seed Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday to advance to the Round of 16. The former Roland Garros champion had beaten Svitolina in all seven of their previous meetings, including in Paris last year in the quarterfinals, but the eighth time proved to be the charm for Svitolina.

“My forehand wasn’t really working today,” Ivanovic said after the match. “I was making a lot of errors. I managed to get back into match and then few disappointing errors always came in the wrong time. I felt like that was sort of throughout the match.”

2015 French Open semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky booked a spot in the Round of 16 on Saturday, beating Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-2. The Swiss awaits the winner of Venus Williams-Alize Cornet.

After beating Andrea Petkovic in the second round, Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva continued her form, defeating Karin Knapp 6-1, 6-1. In the fourth round, she’ll face Carla Suarez Navarro, who topped Dominika Cibulkova in three sets 6–4, 3–6, 6–1 on Saturday.