Serena Williams vs. Magdalena Rybarikova: Score, Reaction from 2016 French Open

As expected, top overall seed Serena Williams cruised in her first-round matchup against Magdalena Rybarikova at the French Open, winning 6-2, 6-0 on Tuesday. 

Williams needed just 42 minutes to defeat Rybarikova, according to Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times, while improving to 62-1 in her career in Grand Slam opening-round matches.

Williams was broken just once in the match while winning 87.5 percent of her first-serve points and 71.4 percent of her second-serve points, per RolandGarros.com. She also blasted 25 winners to just five unforced errors, while Rybarikova made 18 unforced errors in the short match, including five double-faults.

And then Williams put on another performance, addressing the Roland Garros crowd in French, according to the Associated Press (via the Washington Post): 

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The American Francophile’s French, while improving year by year, still requires a little work. Williams told the Paris crowd in its native language she was “very concentrated” for the first “stage” match, quickly correcting that to “round.”

“Your French is perfect, just like your serve,” former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli, who conducted the interview, complimented her.

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That completed a good day for Williams.

She dominated the day, and one of her toughest potential opponents bowed out of the tournament on Tuesday, per Rothenberg:

She also took another step closer to chasing down a legend of the game, per Christopher Clarey of the New York Times:

Williams is currently one Grand Slam win behind Steffi Graf, who finished her career with 22. Williams won her 21st Grand Slam at 2015's Wimbledon.

It would hardly be surprising if she tied with Graf at Roland Garros. While she has had the least Grand Slam success at the French Open, she has still won the tournament three times, including two of the last three.

Her next expected victim will be the winner of the matchup between Teliana Pereira and Kristyna Pliskova. But while Williams is favored to win against any player at this point and has had success at Roland Garros, it's also worth noting she has failed to advance past the second round twice in her last four French Opens.

It has been an all-or-nothing tournament for Williams later in her career, so an upset is always possible, if still highly improbable. But if she's on top of her game, as she was on Tuesday, it's unlikely either Pereira or Pliskova will know what hit her as Williams steamrolls to the third round.

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