French bliss: Dominant Serena into 3rd round

11:54 AM ET

PARIS — Defending champion Serena Williams picked up a quick, clean victory to reach the third round of the French Open on Thursday.

Williams needed only 66 minutes to beat 81st-ranked Teliana Pereira of Brazil 6-2, 6-1, piling up a 31-6 edge in winners.

In the first set, Williams had 22 of those winners and only three unforced errors.

Williams is trying to win her 22nd Grand Slam title, which would equal Steffi Graf’s Open-era record.

Editor’s PicksNadal wins 200th career Slam match at French

Rafael Nadal cruised into the third round of the French Open, winning his 200th career Grand Slam match to become just the eighth man to reach that milestone.

In another match, Kiki Bertens extended her winning run to nine matches to reach the third round with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Camila Giorgi.

Bertens, who upset Australian Open …

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