Serena Williams dominated 11th seed Julia Goerges, into Round of 16

Serena Williams is into the Round of 16 at the 2018 French Open, besting the 11th-seeded Julia Goerges in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Williams has now dispatched two seeded opponents in her first Grand Slam since her 2017 Australian Open win and the birth of her child, thanks to her being unseeded for the tournament.

After the mostly-dominant win, where Williams once again seemed to get stronger and stronger as the match progressed, she will move to the fourth round where she’ll face Maria Sharapova.

On the very first game, Goerges and Williams got to deuce with the latter serving, but Williams put down two extremely strong serves to take the first game. Goerges held, then Williams held, and then it was back to deuce, this time with Williams threatening a break. She got it, and held serve to go up 4-1 in the first set.

She threatened another break, but Goerges held, which led to a dominant service game for Williams to go up 5-1. Then 5-2 after a strong service game from Goerges. Williams wound up taking the set, 6-3. She won all but two fo her first serves, and Goerges had no break attempts in that opening frame.

In the second, Goerges held, Williams held, and then Williams scored a hard-fought break. Goerges then had her first break point opportunity on Williams, and she converted it. On her next service game though, Williams went up 40-0 with a triple break point attempt, and she got it on her second try.

Williams held and went up 5-3 in the second, with Goerges serving. Williams threatens a break, but Goerges held, leading to Williams serving for the win.

As noted above, Williams will face Sharapova in the Round of 16. Sharapova is the 28th seed, and dominated sixth seed Karolina Pliskova on Sunday, 6-2, 6-1. Sharapova will be Williams’ toughest test yet at the French Open, even though she’s dominated the rivalry over the past decade-plus.

Earlier on Sunday, men’s top seed Rafael Nadal easily made it past Richard Gasquet, the No. 27 seed. Nadal is hoping to win his 11th title at Roland Garros, and it’s hard to imagine anybody beating him at this point, especially with Roger Federer, once again, out of the tournament to rest up for the grass court season.

Nadal bested Gasquet, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, in straight sets.

Garbine Muguruza, the 2016 French Open champion and third seed for the women, bested Samantha Stosur to advance on Sunday.

Simona Halep, the top seed still searching for her first Grand Slam win, absolutely dominated her third-round opponent, Andrea Petkovic, on Sunday. Halep won the match in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0.

Marin Cilic, the third seed, and Juan Martin del Potro, the fifth seed, both made it through their third-round opponents, Steve Johnson and Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets, respectively.

In addition to our other recap of Sunday’s action, you can also peep the full schedule and results for the women’s singles bracket here and men’s singles bracket here. Saturday’s results can be viewed below.

No. 1 Rafael Nadal def. No. 27 Richard Gasquet, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 Marin Cilic def. Steve Johnson, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro def. No. 31 Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 7-5, 6-4, 6-1
No. 6 Kevin Anderson def. Mischa Zverev, 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(4)
No. 8 David Goffin def. No. 32 Gael Monfils, 6-7(6), 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
No. 9 John Isner def. Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 7-6(1), 6-4, 7-6(4)
No. 11 Diego Schwartzman def. Borna Coric, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3
Karen Khachanov def. No. 15 Lucas Pouille, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3
No. 18 Fabio Fognini def. No. 16 Kyle Edmund, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
Maximilan Marterr def. Jurgen Zopp, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4

No. 1 Simona Halep def. Andrea Petkovic, 7-5, 6-0
No. 3 Garbine Muguruza def. Samantha Stosur, 6-0, 6-2
No. 28 Maria Sharapova def. No. 6 Karolina Pliskova, 6-2, 6-1
No. 7 Caroline Garcia def. Irina-Cemlia Begu, 6-1, 6-3
No. 25 Anett Kontaveit def. No. 8 Petra Kvitova, 7-6(6), 7-6(4)
No. 10 Sloane Stephens def. Camila Giorgi, 4-6, 6-1, 8-6
Serena Williams def. No. 11 Julia Goerges, 6-3, 6-4
No. 12 Angelique Kerber def. No. 18 Kiki Bertens, 7-6(4), 7-6(4)
No. 16 Elise Mertens def. No. 24 Daria Gavrilova, 6-3, 6-1
Lesia Tsurenko def. No. 19 Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-2, 6-4