Serena Williams advanced to the second week of the French Open for the first time since 2018 when third seed Aryna Sabalenka's surprising defeat left the veteran American as the highest-ranked woman in her section of the draw.

Serena Williams defeated compatriot Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-4 in the third round of the Roland Garros.

She will next play Kazakhstan's 21st seed Elena Rybakina, with a quarter-final match against former rival Victoria Azarenka on the line.

Serena, 39, one more Grand Slam singles victory short of Margaret Court's all-time record, blasted down five aces and hammered 22 winners past Collins.

“Today was incredibly challenging, but I performed well and kept focused. “I'm overjoyed,” said Serena, who rallied from a 1-4 down in the second set.

The eighth seed had seen one of her prospective championship opponents withdraw from the competition on Thursday, as world number one Ashleigh Barty staggered out in the second round due to a hip injury.

Following Naomi Osaka's surprise withdrawal, Simona Halep's inability to begin the tournament due to injury, and initial losses for Bianca Andreescu and Angelique Kerber, neither of the players who have defeated Serena in Grand Slam finals from her last title in the 2017 Australian Open remain in the tournament.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia knocked out world number four Sabalenka, who became the highest-seeded women's player remained in the tournament at the beginning of the day.

The Belarussian, who'd never entered a Grand Slam quarter-final before, was defeated 6-4, 2-6, 6-0.

Pavlyuchenkova, the 31st seed, will meet Azarenka next.

Former world number one Azarenka, who surprised Serena in their 23rd match during last year's US Open semi-finals, defeated Madison Keys 6-2, 6-2 to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time since 2013.

Medvedev wows the 'home' crowd: Men's second seed Daniil Medvedev became the new local favorite after a straight-set triumph against Reilly Opelka of the United States on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

The two-time Grand Slam runner-up, who speaks French and resided in France as a youngster, won 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Medvedev having lost all four of his former French Open matches earlier this week, although he received a lot of encouragement from the crowd, as there were no French players in the third round for the first time in the Open's history.

After beating US player Marcos Giron 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, the Russian will confront Cristian Garin for a last-eight position.

Alexander Zverev, the sixth seed from Germany, took five sets to overcome unknown countrymen Oscar Otte in the first round before overcoming Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin in three.

On Friday, he defeated Laslo Djere 6-2, 7-5, 6-2, advancing to the round of 16 against former world number four Kei Nishikori.

“Winning Grand Slams and rising to the top of the rankings is the major ambition of my tennis career. “I feel like I've gotten back on track in the previous year,” Zverev said.

Nishikori advanced to the fourth round after his first-round opponent, Henri Laaksonen, retired injured after losing the opening set.

Nishikori of Japan, who endured more than eight hours on court in the first two rounds, might have appreciated the brief outing.

Casper Ruud, an in-form Norwegian youth, was beaten by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a marathon bout that spanned more than four and a half hours.

The Spaniard won on his fifth match point in a thrilling final game, 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 7-6 (8/6), 0-6, 7-5, to book a last-16 meeting with Argentina's Federico Delbonis.

With just an underarm serve, Davidovich-Fokina saved one of four break points in the final game.

“I didn't even think about it. “I had almost no idea I'd execute the underarm serve,” he explained.