French Open Lookahead: Serena Williams vs. Collins in 3rd Rd

A quick look at the French Open:

LOOKAHEAD TO FRIDAY

Serena Williams faces a dangerous opponent in her third-round match: fellow American Danielle Collins, who reached the quarterfinals in the tournament last September before losing to Sofia Kenin. Williams narrowly beat Collins in their only previous meeting at a tournament in Australia early this year. Collins, ranked 50th, beat a qualifier in her first two matches this week. Williams is again seeking a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles titles. American Madison Keys, a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2018, seeks a spot in the fourth round when she faces former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka. Four American men will be in action, including No. 31-seeded John Isner and No. 32 Reilly Opelka. Isner will face No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas. Four American men made it to the third round at Roland Garros for the first time since a half-dozen advanced that far in 1996.

FRIDAY'S FORECAST

Rain. High of 71 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius).

THURSDAY'S WEATHER

Mostly cloudy. High of 78 degrees Fahrenheit (25 Celsius).

THURSDAY'S KEY RESULTS

Women's Second Round: Magda Linette beat No. 1 Ash Barty 6-1, 2-2, ret.; No. 4 Sofia Kenin beat Hailey Baptiste 7-5, 6-3; No. 5 Elina Svitolina beat Ann Li 6-0, 6-4; No. 8 Iga Swiatek beat Rebecca Peterson 6-1, 6-1; Sloane Stephens beat No. 9 Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-1; No. 13 Jennifer Brady beat Fiona Ferro 6-4, 2-6, 7-5; No. 24 Coco Gauff beat Wang Qiang 6-3, 7-6 (1).

Men's Second Round: No. 1 Novak Djokovic beat Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; No. 3 Rafael Nadal beat Richard Gasquet 6-0, 7-5, 6-2; No. 8 Roger Federer beat Marin Cilic 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2; No. 9 Matteo Berrettini beat Federico Coria 6-3, 6-3, 6-2; No. 10 Diego Schwartzman beat Aljaz Bedene 6-4, 6-2, 6-4; No. 18 Jannik Sinner beat Gianluca Mager 6-1, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

STAT OF THE DAY

Three — number of times in the professional era that the top two seeded women departed in the first two rounds at Roland Garros, as happened this week.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"How many matches have I played recently? Not many, so I didn't have rhythm." — Roger Federer to the chair umpire, after receiving a time violation for not being ready to receive serve quickly enough.

___

More AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports