• French Open, Day Four

Serena stretches winning streak

Serena Williams racked up her 26th consecutive victory after the American powered past Caroline Garcia 6-1 6-2 to book her place into round three of the French Open.

The world No. 1 needed only 61 minutes to complete an easy win, but was impressed with the way the 19-year-old Frenchwoman played at times during the contest and praised her efforts after the match.

Williams has won five titles so far in 2013, and given the way the current Wimbledon and US Open champion is performing, it will take something special to topple her at Roland Garros as she continues to put the shock first-round exit of 12 months ago to the back of her mind.

As usual, Williams was dominant in the rallies and rarely gave her opponent opportunities to clinch a game. Garcia managed to win the sixth game before Williams won the opening set.

Williams sealed the first two games of the second, but Garcia finally began to play and expressed herself freely on court - which resulted in her keeping near Williams at 3-2.

However, the world No. 1 would prove to be too strong when it mattered most as Williams dropped one point in breaking in the seventh game, and fired a huge serve on match point to cross the finishing line.

Last year's Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska was a comfortable 6-3 6-2 victor over Mallory Burdette, but former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki - conqueror of Laura Robson - suffered a 7-6(2) 6-3 defeat to Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia.

There were also wins for eighth seed Angelique Kerber and fellow German Sabine Lisicki, both winning in straight sets over Jana Cepelova and Maria Teresa Torro Flor respectively.

Former champion Ana Ivanovic claimed a 6-2 6-2 win over Mathilde Johansson, and last year's runner-up Sara Errani overcame Yulia Putintseva 6-1 6-1.

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