French Open 2021: Serena Williams was angry in the fourth round with 21-year-old Elena Rybakina

Elena Rybakina beat Serena Williams 6-3, 7-5 in the fourth round of the 2021 French Open on Sunday. The 21-year-old Rybakina advanced to the quarterfinals with the victory, and along the way, Williams was denied the opportunity to continue his 24th career Grand Slam individual title, which he has been pursuing for three years now.

A 23-time Grand Slam champion, Williams is still looking for the 24th title to tie the record. Before Sunday’s outrage, he looked up Williams paved the way for No. 24 Grand Slam with many seeds out of the tournament.

Rybakina No. 21 will face No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals. Pavlyuchenkova won the 15th place in the fourth round of Victoria Azarenka. Rybakina’s win over seventh-placed Williams is among the top 10 in the Grand Slam and his fifth overall. So far during the clay surface tournament, Rybakina has not dropped a set.

Rybakina broke Williams five times in a straight set victory, finishing with 21 winners and 13 unforced errors. Williams finished the loss with 15 wins and 19 unforced errors. Rybakina showed composure on the court, with Williams winning on clean points (86 percent compared to Williams ’50 percent) and broken points (71 percent compared to Williams’ 60 percent). Playing in the French Open for the third time, Rybakina had a solid base game and a strong value to beat Williams.

The clay surface at Roland Garros is not Williams ’strongest, and he has won the fewest Grand Slam titles in his career at the French Open. Williams has won three French Open titles, the last of which came in 2015 when she first won the Grand Slam finalist Lucie Safarova in three sets. Compared to six U.S. Open titles and seven at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Williams has not advanced to the fourth round since becoming runner-up in the 2016 French Open.

Two more Grand Slam tournaments remain in the 2021 tennis calendar with Wimbledon in London (June 28-July 11) and the US Open in New York (August 30-September 12). Wimbledon is played on the grass, and the U.S. Open is a tough court tournament, both of which are the strongest surfaces of Williams ’game.

If Williams manages to tie for 24th place at Wimbledon, that would leave him with more chances to break the Margaret Court record this season (US Open) before Williams turns 40 on September 26th. Williams lost his back in the Wimbledon finals to Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep in 2018 and 2019 before the tournament was canceled last summer due to a global coronavirus pandemic.

In the women’s singles draw at the French Open, No. 4 American Sofia Kenin and No. 8 Iga Swiat are among the top 10 players in the standings. Along with Kenin, two other American women remain in the tournament, with No. 24 Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens both advancing to the fourth round.