Serena Williams started her quest to match Margaret Court's grand slam record by seeing off Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round of the French Open.
Williams, who reached the semi-finals in Melbourne earlier this year, has been stuck on 23 slam triumphs – one shy of Court's career haul – since winning the 2017 Australian Open.
But the seventh seed in Paris did just enough in a challenging opening outing on Monday, the first official night match in French Open history, overcoming Begu 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 in one hour and 44 minutes.
Begu proved a worthy match, winning four straight games and at one point holding two set points in the opener, but the world number eight's quality and experience ultimately came to the fore.
Having charged into a 5-3 lead, Williams found herself at 0-30 down when serving for the first set, and an overhit slice followed by another errant, awkward backhand gave Begu the break.
More unforced errors followed from Williams as her hopes of clinching the set with a return break were dashed, before the 39-year-old scooped long on her own serve to give Begu the advantage.
The American regained her composure to hit back, though, and force a tiebreak. Begu had two set points to play with at 6-4 up, but Williams rallied, winning the next four to take a hard-fought lead.
A superb drop shot teed Williams up for a break at the start of the second set, yet she tensed up again in game six.
Williams was applauding Begu for a supreme forehand down the line, but the former world number one was soon frustrated as the Romanian clawed back to deuce three times.
Begu's resolve finally crumbled, however, and Williams was left to serve out a win which sets up a second-round tie with Mihaela Buzarnescu.
DATA SLAM: Error-strewn Williams will have to sharpen up
By 3-3 in the tiebreaker, Williams had made 21 unforced errors, in contrast to just seven from Begu. Williams tightened up after nosing ahead, making just nine more in the remainder of the contest, but she will know such issues cannot continue if there is to be a chance of reigning again in the French capital this year.
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Williams – 27/30
Begu – 18/17
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Williams – 5/2
Begu – 2/3
BREAK POINTS WON
Williams – 5/8
Begu – 3/5
Djokovic misses out on Geneva Open final after shock Machac defeat
Tomas Machac upset Novak Djokovic as he captured the biggest win of his career to deny the Serbian a place in the Geneva Open final.
Machac reached his first ATP Tour final with a 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 victory on Friday following a hard-fought contest.
Djokovic had control of the first set, storming into a 4-1 lead, but Machac rallied to take the opening set.
After receiving a medical time-out before the second set, Djokovic superbly won the second set without dropping a single game but faded in the decider.
Djokovic won the opener in the third, but Machac came from behind to seal the win in two hours and seven minutes. He will face Casper Ruud or Flavio Cobolli in the final on Sunday.
Data Debrief: Final still out of Djokovic's reach
Despite making a strong start to the Geneva Open, fitness problems seem to have caught up with Djokovic ahead of the French Open later this month.
He lost his second career match despite having won a set with a 6-0 scoreline (after Sam Querrey in the Paris Masters in 2012), and has failed to make a final in 2024.
Atlanta United v Los Angeles FC: Pineda insists Five Stripes 'on the right path'
Gonzalo Pineda insists Atlanta United "are on the right path" as they look to get back to winning ways in MLS.
The Five Stripes are 12th in the Eastern Conference following a run of eight matches without victory.
Although, they enjoyed a reprieve in the U.S. Open Cup last time out, defeating Charleston Battery on penalties to reach the quarter-finals.
And Pineda hopes his side can build on that momentum when they welcome Los Angeles to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
"I think we are on the right path," he said. "I think it is really encouraging for the team, for the mentality of the team, to win.
"There are many positives out of that. We have to hold onto that positivity, and the mentality of the players that fought and put that together on Saturday."
"I think that, especially being at home, we need to make sure we are on the front foot right away," midfielder Dax McCarty added.
"Obviously, our stadium is such a fortress. When you score an early goal, you get everyone excited and the other team feels that pressure, which is such a benefit."
By contrast, LAFC are fifth in the West and on a four-match winning streak across all competitions – during which they have scored 11 goals and conceded just once.
"The team is in a good way – winning games, scoring goals and not conceding – and we'd like to continue that," head coach Steve Cherundolo said.
"We feel good about the moment we're in, and our players are confident.
"The players have shown an amazing response [to their defeat by San Jose Earthquakes at the start of the month]. We were shooting ourselves in the foot by making some mistakes in portions of the field where we don't usually do that.
"The message was that we are really in control of our own destiny, which is a great place to be."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Atlanta United – Thiago Almada
Atlanta will be hoping for inspiration from the likes of Almada as they look to end their winless streak.
The Argentina international has scored in two of their last three league games on home soil.
Los Angeles FC – Denis Bouanga
Bouanga scored both goals in LAFC’s 2-0 win over St. Louis City last time out in MLS.
He has now found the net 33 times since the start of last season (including play-offs), seven more than any other player during that time.
MATCH PREDICTION: LOS ANGELES FC
Only once in their MLS history have Atlanta endured a longer winless streak, going 12 straight games without victory between May and August 2021.
Meanwhile, LAFC have won successive games to nil for the first time during the regular season since August 2022.
That came after they recorded just one victory while keeping a clean sheet in their previous 21 such matches.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Atlanta United: 38.2%
Los Angeles FC: 32.8%
Draw: 29.0%
Djokovic overcomes Griekspoor to reach Geneva Open semi-finals
Novak Djokovic beat Tallon Griekspoor in straight sets in the Geneva Open quarter-finals on Thursday, teeing up a last-four meeting with Tomas Machac.
Djokovic was pushed all the way in an intriguing opener, Griekspoor generating three set points only to fail to convert any of them.
The world number one immediately punished Griekspoor's wastefulness by breaking at the end of a back-and-forth service game, then proceeded to serve the first set out in comfort.
Griekspoor would not get a second chance to make a contest of it as Djokovic took full advantage of an early break in the second set, serving at 81 per cent and winning 92 per cent of points behind his first serve from there as he cruised to a 7-5 6-1 win.
Data Debrief: Age just a number for Djokovic
Having turned 37 on Wednesday, Djokovic is the oldest semi-finalist in Geneva Open history.
Now 14-5 for the year, he is the strong favourite to claim his first title of 2024. Flavio Cobolli will face Sebastian Baez or Casper Ruud in the other semi-final.
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