No. 1 seed, Serena Williams from America faced her toughest opponent in this year’s French Open when she came up against the 26th seed, Kristina Mladenovic from France on Court Philippe Chatrier today.

Mladenovic, who has enjoyed more success in the Doubles draw while starting to make an impact in the Singles draw, make the American work hard for her 6-4 7-6(10) win.

In her post-match interview, Williams admitted that she made several mistakes, which she credited Mladenovic for. Apart from her opponent’s play, the two and half hour rain delay before the second set tie-break could commence, did not help the American either as she struggled to find her form and had to save five match points during the tie-break. The turning point for Williams was when Mladenovic, who had set point on 9-8 in the tiebreaker, hit a forehand shot wide. Serena just needed this gap to shift up a gear and then managed to close off the set and match.

Serena will now face 18th seed, Elina Svitolina from the Ukraine who caused a surprise upset by beating the 2008 French Open champion and 14th seed, Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-4 on Court 1 today.

Older sister, Venus Williams, needed three sets to end another French hopeful, Alize Cornet’s chances of winning her first French Open and Grand Slam title, by beating her 7-6(5) 1-6 6-0 on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Williams, a former 2002 finalist and who turns 36 next month, will be hoping to improve on her past few year’s performances at the French Open.

Next up for Venus Williams will be Timea Bacsinszky who made it a triple French ladies loss today but beating Pauline Parmentier 6-4 6-2, also on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Carla Suarez Navarro, Yulia Putintseva, Kiki Bertens and Madison Keys also advanced to the next round.