PARIS — For the third match in a row at the French Open, Serena Williams was oddly out of sorts at the outset and dropped the opening set. And for the third match in a row, almost as though this was the plan all along, Serena righted herself to pull out a victory. In a riveting, two-hour showdown between the last two American women in the draw, the No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Williams was a game away from defeat Monday, then came back to beat Sloane Stephens 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. Serena reached the quarterfinals and avoided joining defending champion Maria Sharapova on the way out of Roland Garros. "It's not how you start, I guess. It's how you finish," Serena said. "That's kind of how I'm looking at it." Close as it was, thanks in large part to Serena's 43 unforced errors, more than twice as many as Stephens' 21, the eventual outcome seemed certain once Serena pulled even by taking the second set. That's because she is 10-0 in three-setters this season. Serena is 29-1 overall in 2015 and owns an 18-match Grand Slam winning streak, including championships at the US Open and Australian Open that gave her 19 major singles trophies. The 1999 US Open, when she collected her first major title, is the only other time Serena came back to win three straight matches after losing the first set, according to the WTA. Either Serena, in 2013, or Sharapova, in 2012 and 2014, has won the French Open the past three years. Only Serena has a chance to do it again Saturday because the second-seeded Sharapova was outplayed throughout a 7-6 (3), 6-4 loss to 13th-seeded Lucie Safarova. "My opponent had a different gear than I did," Sharapova said after her earliest exit at Roland Garros since 2010. Sharapova did not use the cold she's been dealing with as an excuse, saying: "I don't like to talk about it, and I don't think it really makes a difference." In her first French Open quarterfinal, Safarova will face No. 21 Garbine Muguruza of Spain, who beat No. 28 Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-3, 6-4.
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after defeating Jack Sock of the US during their men's singles match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris Monday. — Reuters
On a day full of tennis' biggest names, the Big 4 of the men's game — Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray — all won. The top-seeded Djokovic and nine-time French Open champion Nadal will play in the quarterfinals Wednesday, a rematch of last year's final. Nadal eliminated the last US man, Jack Sock, 6-3, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, while Djokovic had no trouble in a 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 win over Richard Gasquet. Federer needed about an hour to finish his 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Gael Monfils in a match suspended because of darkness after the second set Sunday. Federer next faces Swiss Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka, and Murray will play 2013 French Open runner-up David Ferrer. Murray stretched his post-wedding winning streak to 14 matches, all on clay, by beating Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, while Ferrer's 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory over US Open champion Marin Cilic was noteworthy for this statistic: Cilic was broken once in 40 service games until Monday, when he was broken five times. Serena's quarterfinal opponent is 2012 runner-up Sara Errani, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Julia Goerges. — Agencies
