PARIS: Serena Williams looked ill, and not only because she had lost five games in a row at the French Open.

Battling a cold, Williams received a visit during a changeover from a trainer, who checked her temperature and gave her pills. Then came a third-set surge, and Williams beat 18-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Saturday, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2.
There was however no prescription to help Andy Roddick, who lost to Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
The seesaw victory assured Williams of retaining the No 1 ranking after the tournament. No 18-seeded Shahar Peer won and plays Williams next. Other winners included Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan and wild card Jarmila Groth of Australia, who both advanced to the fourth round at a major tournament for the first time.
No 3 Novak Djokovic, a two-time semi-finalist, beat Victor Hanescu 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. No 9 David Ferrer lost to No 22 Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-0, 7-6 (1).
Top-seeded American twins Bob and Mike Bryan were upset in the second round of doubles by unseeded Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
On a cloudy, windy, chilly day, the centre-court stadium was slow to fill for Williams’ match, the first on the schedule. Her aggressive returns had Pavlyuchenkova’s serve under constant pressure early, but the talented young Russian—a three-time Grand Slam champion in juniors—suddenly reversed the momentum in the second set.
Williams began to look sluggish during points, took her time between them and occasionally grimaced, while Pavlyuchenkova’s booming groundstrokes kept finding the corners.
In the third set, Williams erased three break points to take the lead for good at 2-1. She again became forceful with her returns, and whacked the last one at Pavlyuchenkova’s feet for the win.