TENNIS
Serena Williams supreme at French Open
The world number one took another step closer to retaining her title at Roland Garros on Thursday with a resounding straight set win over Teliana Pereira.
Top seed and defending champion Serena Williams cruised into the French Open third round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Teliana Pereira of Brazil.
It was a routine victory for the world number one that keeps her on course to win a 22nd Grand Slam title and equal the modern day record of 22 set by Steffi Graf in Paris in 1999.
'Today I played very well and I am happy to have won,' Williams said in brief courtside comments before making way for big sister Venus who was next up on Court Suzanne Lenglen against another American, Louisa Chirico.
'She gets nervous if I watch her play so I had better get back to the locker-room.'
The three-time winner of the French Open needed just 66 minutes to see off the challenge of the world number 81, who was bidding to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
Williams has yet to drop a set in the tournament in contrast to last year when she was taken to three sets in five of her seven matches on the way to winning the crown.
The 34-year-old American will next go up against the winner of the tie between France's Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos of Hungary with a place in the last 16 at stake.