French Open 2021: Serena Williams, Daniil Medvedev Wins Highlight Friday Results

Serena Williams headlined Day 6 of the 2021 French Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Danielle Collins to advance to the fourth round.

A three-time winner of the French Open, Williams has seen her path to a fourth title open up thanks to a series of upsets and injuries.

Five of the top 10 seeds in the women's bracket didn't advance past the second round, and No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka's run came to an end Friday when she was upset by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed in the men's bracket, sent Reilly Opelka home in straight sets.

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2021 French Open Results: Friday

Men's Singles

No. 2 Daniil Medvedev def. No. 32 Reilly Opelka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4

No. 6 Alexander Zverev def. Laslo Djere 6-2, 7-5, 6-2

No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta def. Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-4, 6-2

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina def. No. 15 Casper Ruud 7-6 (3), 2-6, 7-6 (6), 0-6, 7-5

No. 22 Cristian Garin def. Marcos Giron 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2

Federico Delbonis def. No. 27 Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-1, 6-3

Kei Nishikori def. Henri Laaksonen 7-5 (Retired)

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Women's Singles

No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 2-6, 6-0

No. 7 Serena Williams def. Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-4

No. 15 Victoria Azarenka def. No. 23 Madison Keys 6-2, 6-2

No. 20 Marketa Vondrousova def. Polona Hercog 6-3, 6-3

No. 21 Elena Rybakina def. Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-4

No. 33 Paula Badosa def. Ana Bogdan 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4

Tamara Zidansek def. Katerina Siniakova 0-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2

Sorana Cirstea def. Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2

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It's the first time since 2018 that Williams has advanced to the fourth round at Roland Garros. 

Collins didn't make things easy, especially in the second set. She took a 4-1 lead before Williams rallied to win five consecutive games to take the set and the match. 

Williams came out of the gate strong. All five of her aces came in the opening set, and she hit 62 percent of her first serves in play. The 39-year-old won 17 of 18 first-serve points.

"Today in particular, this whole week thus far, I just needed a win," Williams said after the match. "I needed to win tough matches. I needed to win sets. I needed to win being down. I needed to find me, know who I am. Nobody else is Serena out here. It's me. It's pretty cool."

Williams will take on Elena Rybakina in the fourth round, the first head-to-head meeting between the two. Rybakina defeated Elena Vesnina in straight sets Friday.  

Despite being seeded third in this tournament and fourth in the WTA rankings, Sabalenka is still waiting for her breakthrough moment in a Grand Slam tournament. The 23-year-old has yet to advance past the fourth round in any of the four major events. 

Medvedev is in the midst of his best run at the French Open. After losing in the first round in each of the previous four years, the Russian star has only dropped one set through three matches in 2021. 

Friday was a dominant performance for Medvedev against Opelka. He needed just 98 minutes in the straight-sets win, hit 10 aces and won 34 of 38 first-serve points. 

Next up for Medvedev will be No. 22 Cristian Garin. They met in May at the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid, which is also a clay-court event. Garin won in three sets. 

No. 6 Alexander Zverev and No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta were also notable winners in the men's bracket.

Zverev got his second straight-sets victory of the tournament with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 win over Laslo Djere. On Sunday, he plays Kei Nishikori, whose third-round match ended after one set when Henri Laaksonen retired with an injury.

Laaksonen's bad luck could be beneficial for Nishikori. The Japanese star needed five sets to win each of his first two matches and was on the court for more than eight hours in those victories combined.