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French Open 2021 Lookahead: Serena Williams' 64th Slam 4th round; foe's 1st

Serena Williams is playing in the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the 64th time. Elena Rybakina is making her debut at that stage of a major.

United States Serena Williams plays a return to United States's Danielle Collins during their third round match on day 6, of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, Friday, June 4 Image Source : APUnited States Serena Williams plays a return to United States's Danielle Collins during their third round match on day 6, of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, Friday, June 4

A quick look at the French Open:

LOOKAHEAD TO SUNDAY

Serena Williams is playing in the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament for the 64th time. Elena Rybakina is making her debut at that stage of a major. They’ll meet Sunday for a berth in the quarterfinals at the French Open. The 21-year-old Rybakina has scored back-to-back wins for the first time since January. It will be her first time facing Williams, who hopes to claim a record-tying 24th Grand Slam title next weekend. Former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, enjoying her best run at Roland Garros since 2013, will play No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. No. 2-seeded Daniil Medvedev, who began the tournament with an 0-4 record at Roland Garros, has seemingly conquered his aversion to clay and will face No. 22 Cristian Garin. No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta, and No. 6 Alexander Zverev will play Kei Nishikori.

SUNDAY’S FORECAST

Cloudy. High of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 Celsius).

SATURDAY’S WEATHER

Cloudy. High of 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 Celsius).

SATURDAY’S KEY RESULTS

Women’s Third Round: No. 4 Sofia Kenin beat No. 28 Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Barbora Krejcikova beat No. 5 Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-2; No. 8 Iga Swiatek beat No. 30 Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (4), 6-0; Sloane Stephens beat No. 18 Karolina Muchova 6-3, 7-5;

Men’s Third Round: No. 1 Novak Djokovic beat Ricardas Birankis 6-1, 6-4, 6-1; No. 3 Rafael Nadal beat Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-3, 6-3; No. 8 Roger Federer beat Dominik Koepfer 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 7-5; No. 18 Jannik Sinner beat Mikael Ymer 6-1, 7-5, 6-3; Lorenzo Musetti beat Marco Cecchinato 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

STAT OF THE DAY

12 — Consecutive years Novak Djokovic has reached the fourth round at Roland Garros. That is a men's record in the professional era, breaking the previous mark of 11 he shared with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Well, for sure, when you’re winning too easily, sometimes you have thoughts that, 'Hey, if I’m leading 3-0, I’m going to win this set easily, and you kind of take everything for granted. It’s, like, natural. But I’m trying not to do that when I’m leading.” — Iga Swiatek, the 2020 French Open champion, who has won 20 sets in a row at Roland Garros.