Venus Williams marches on but faces tough rematch in fourth round

Venus Williams cruised into the fourth round on Friday, but she next faces a tough opponent in Timea Bacsinszky.

For the first time since early 2011, Venus Williams is playing a major without her sister, Serena, also in the draw. While it might change her rhythms personally, it might have a positive impact on her professionally. 

Did Venus Williams accidentally reveal that Serena is expecting a baby girl?

A few weeks from turning 37, Venus is squarely in the "serious contenders" category. She took another step today with a crisp, drama-absent, straight-set win over Elise Mertens of Belgium (surely the only player to list her pet crane in the media guide.) Venus is moving well, stroking the ball well, betraying full comfort on clay, and benefiting from a day off between matches.

In the fourth round, her next match pits her against TimeaBacsinszky, the player who beat her here last year.

Snapshots from Day 6

French Open 2017 Day 6

Garbine Muguruza

Kristina Mladenovic

Steve Johnson

Dominic Thiem

Dominic Thiem, Steve Johnson

Svetlana Kuznetsova

Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic

Shuai Zhang

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Timea Bacsinszky

Caroline Wozniacki

Shuai Zhang