The three-time champion and former world number one, dressed again in her all-black catsuit, is playing her first Slam since winning the 2017 Australian Open while two months pregnant.

The 36-year-old, seeking a 24th Grand Slam title, will face Germany’s Julia Goerges for a place in the last 16.

If she gets past the third round, Williams could face old rival Maria Sharapova for a place in the quarter-finals.

“It’s just incredible,” said Williams.

“I am so happy to be back here. I lost the first set and thought I must try harder, I must try harder and then Serena came out.

“I will be back tomorrow to play doubles with Venus. I don’t mind playing singles and doubles — I will fight my heart out.”

Williams, playing in her first Slam since winning the 2017 Australian Open while two months pregnant, had cruised through her opening round match against Kristyna Pliskova in what was a record 317th win at the Slams.

But Thursday was a tougher proposition for the 36-year-old American who was playing just her sixth match of 2018.

Williams appeared once again in her striking, all-black catsuit.

However, her game failed to match her impressive outfit in the first set where she was broken in the sixth game by the Australian.

Barty wrapped it up when the American netted a weary-looking forehand, the 12th unforced error of the set for the 23-time major winner.

Williams hit just three winners in the opener while 22-year-old Barty could afford to bide her time, just two winners and four unforced errors.

She was a break down again after dropping serve in the opening game of the second set.

But just as the half-full crowd enjoying the late evening sunshine in Court Philippe Chatrier anticipated a quick kill, Williams came storming back, reeling off four straight games for 4-1.

A fifth ace of the contest won her the set.

A break in the third game of the decider proved crucial and Williams, now ranked 451 in the world, claimed victory on a second match point with a sweeping, running forehand.

Sharapova, the champion in Paris in 2012 and 2014, saw off Donna Vekic 7-5, 6-4 in a tie which featured 10 breaks of serve and secured on a fifth match point.

Former world number one Sharapova, seeded 28 this year, will face Czech sixth seed Karolina Pliskova for a place in the fourth round.

“She won a big title in Stuttgart, so I have to be ready for this match and I’ll be ready,” said Sharapova of Pliskova, a player she defeated in their only previous meeting in the 2015 Fed Cup final.

The Russian star is playing in Paris for the first time since a quarter-final run in 2015. She served a doping ban in 2016 and was refused a wild card last year.

– Nadal breezes through –

Ten-time champion Rafael Nadal breezed into the third round and a clash against childhood friend Richard Gasquet.

Top seed and world number one Nadal, chasing an 11th title, swept past Argentinian Guido Pella 6-2, 6-1, 6-1, showing no signs of the brief struggles he faced in the first round against lucky loser Simone Bolelli.

The 31-year-old will next face home favourite, and his old junior rival Gasquet, whom he has beaten 15 times from as many meetings in professional tennis.

“Richard is a very good friend. We’ve known each other since we were 11 or 12 years old so it will be very special to play again against him,” said the champion.

Top seed Simona Halep reached the third round with a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 win over Taylor Townsend of the United States.

Halep, twice a runner-up in Paris, will face Germany’s Andrea Petkovic for a place in the last 16.

Spanish third seed Garbine Muguruza, the 2016 champion, was too strong for France’s number 257 Fiona Ferro 6-4, 6-3.

Title challengers Marin Cilic and Dominic Thiem struggled into the last 32.

Third seed Cilic reached the third round for the eighth time with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 7-5 win over Polish qualifier and world number 188 Hubert Hurkacz.

Seventh seeded Thiem, a semi-finalist in 2016 and 2017, racked up his 31st win of the year.

The Austrian, the only man to beat Nadal on clay this year, saw off Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a match which had been suspended overnight after the third set.

Ariya set the early pace in the morning session, mastering the sodden conditions to end the day in a three-way tie atop the leaderboard with Australia’s Sarah Jane Smith and South Korea’s Lee Jeong-eun6.

Call it blind luck, or whatever you want, but Ariya got off to an impressive start at the major championship despite not being able to practice on the front nine at all ahead of Thursday’s first round because her clubs didn’t arrive with her flight.

“My golf bag didn’t come on Monday,” said Ariya, who like the rest of the field also saw practice rounds limited by heavy rain this week.

“I played only nine holes yesterday. I played the back nine so it was tough for me today because I didn’t see the front …. I pretty much trust my caddie. I know he is going to do a good job so I can trust him.”

The rain at Alabama’s Shoal Creek course gave way to sunshine for the start of the first round.

Ariya, fresh from a superb victory at the LPGA Kingsmill Championship two weeks ago, took advantage to post five birdies and an eagle with two bogeys.

The 22-year-old from Bangkok maintained the conditions at Shoal Creek were more challenging than they appeared after the rain.

“The course is playing pretty tough, and some holes pretty long,” she said.

“It’s pretty wet and it’s pretty hard to have like good distance, second shot to the green.”

Ariya said her recent run of form was the result of intensive work on her short game.

On Thursday, Ariya hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation and tallied only 28 putts across 18 holes.

“My game has been improving every week because I work so hard with my short game,” said Ariya, who won five times in 2016. “The last few months I have been playing pretty good.”

Ariya is not looking too far ahead however. “I’m not going to think about the outcome,” she said. “I’m not going to think about winning the tournament.”

Ariya is tied with Smith and Lee while another trio of golfers,

Smith fired an eagle and five birdies with two bogeys to join the leading group. Lee, who carries the number “6” alongside her name to distinguish her from five other Korean golfers who share the same name, had five birdies without a bogey.

The trio were two shots in front of former US Open winner Michelle Wie, 18-year-old amateur Linn Grant of Sweden and American Danielle Kang.

Wie’s round included back-to-back birdies on her 11th and 12th holes, part of an error-free back nine display.

The 28-year-old from Hawaii said she was surprised at the condition of the course following the deluge earlier this week.

“It’s mind-blowing how great the golf course is,” she said. “The greens staff, they’ve been working day and night trying to get this golf course ready and have done an amazing job.”

– Mud balls –

World number one Park In-bee headed a group on 12 players on 70 that also included Australia’s Su Oh, American Nelly Korda and Denmark’s Emily Pedersen.

“Today was a good putting day,” said seven-time major championship winner Park. “The golf course was actually much better than I expected.

“You are going to get some mud balls around this golf course. I got a couple that was pretty bad and it hooked into trees and stuff like that. Everybody is in the same boat.”

The European side have beaten the South American rivals five out of their latest six meets including the 25-22 25-15 21-25 25-12 win on Thursday. This was German back-to-back wins after they outlast Thailand in five set thrillers on Wednesday’s evening.

Germany coach Felix Koslowski said the hard-fought win over the Kingdom’s team gave his squad a good boost into the match against the Queens of the Caribbean.

“Wednesday’s win over Thailand counted even more for us . We had a taste at winning and we wanted to stay hungry for more win,” said Koslowski.

“Dominican Republic is a great team. They have shown in this Nations League that they have great potentials and have been improving all the time.

“My  players showed emotions on the court . They played really well especially on the serves and reception. They controlled the situation well and served really aggressively and precisely. Beating Dominicans is never easy. I’m really proud of my players,” added the German coach

Dominican coach Marcos Kwiek on the contrary looked uptight in the post match press conference.

“Today we made so many mistakes. In this kind of game you are not allowed to make mistakes. We could not follow the game plan and that was the reason of our loss today,” the Dominican coach said.

Germany have won three out of nine matches while Dominicans won two out of nine.

The reigning world champions gave a masterclass to tame the hosts for the 20th time with a 25-15 25-22 25-16 demolition.

With their rapid game, lightning smashes and stronger teamwork, USA barely gave the home side room to breathe in the first two sets. Thailand fought valiantly to go ahead briefly in the third set at 9-8 and 11-10 but the League leaders hit right back with a ruthless attacking game to dominate the rest of the match.

USA have won eight out of nine matches to top the table. Each of their last seven matches were won in straight sets.

USA Head Coach Karch Kiraly said: “ Our team is doing a good job of following our game plan. We make a new plan for every opponent and they’re doing a nice job of executing it and that started tonight with very good serving. We caused lot of trouble for Thailand in that first set making our job easier because they have an offense that’s very complicated. We have a very difficult week ahead but we look forward to the challenge.”

Thailand Head Coach Danai Sriwacharamaytakul said: “It was a very tough match for us today,but it was such a great honour for my team to have a chance to play against a strong team like USA.They played  a high level volleyball and they have a very good playing system.We will take this match as a good learning experience and I hope my young players will gain good experience playing against highly experienced USA team.”

Thailand will host Pool 15 which also include Japan, South Korea and Japan next week in Nakhon Ratchasima from June 5-7.

Real Madrid called a surprise press conference at 12pm BST today at the Bernabeu, following doubts around the future of Zidane, as well as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.

Zidane said Thursday he was leaving the Spanish giants, just days after winning the Champions League for the third year in a row.

“I have taken the decision to not continue next year as Real Madrid coach. After three years I need another discourse, another method of working,” he told a hastily convened press conference.

The 45-year-old Frenchman played 155 times for Real Madrid and became a club legend, before taking over the B team, Castilla.//AFP

The Koreans crashed out in the first round of the 2014 tournament in Brazil and have their work cut out to avoid the same fate in Russia, where they have been drawn alongside holders Germany, Sweden and Mexico.

But they boast genuine star quality in snake-hipped Tottenham attacker Son, who lit up the Premier League this season, helping Spurs finish third and secure a UEFA Champions League place.

One of the best players to emerge from Asia, the 25-year-old scored 18 goals in all competitions in a brilliant campaign with the London club and once again carries the hopes of a nation heading into the World Cup.

South Korea made history with their astonishing run to the 2002 World Cup semi-finals but the current crop of players have struggled to hit those heights — or come anywhere close.

Son almost single-handedly led the Taeguk Warriors to the Asian Cup final in 2015, where they lost to hosts Australia, but his eye-catching performances earned him a move from German club Bayer Leverkusen to Spurs, where the mercurial forward has been a big hit with supporters.

Son will be desperate to deliver for his legions of fans in South Korea and has the weapons to pose a serious threat to Sweden in their World Cup opener on June 18.

The Koreans realistically also need to take points from Mexico with world champions Germany awaiting them in their final Group F fixture in Kazan.

Pelted with toffees by fans in a traditional Korean insult on their return from Brazil four years ago, they will need star man Son to be on song in Russia to avoid a repeat.

Djokovic, the 2016 Roland Garros champion and former world number one, is seeded 20 this year after struggling to rediscover his best form after returning from a right elbow injury.

He wasn’t at his best on Court Suzanne Lenglen, but goes on to face Spain’s 13th seed Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in the last 16.

The Serbian 12-time Grand Slam champion fired 39 winners but 33 unforced errors and was broken three times by Munar, the world 155.

“I am very happy to be here on Suzanne Lenglen and see so many people and see the support,” said Djokovic.

“Jaume is a great player, he has lots of quality and good concentration. I congratulate him on a great match today.”

German world number three Zverev found himself in deep trouble when trailing by two sets to one against Lajovic, but the Serbian ran out of gas as it finished 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The 21-year-old, a winner of three Masters titles, is yet to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final and was knocked out in the first round at Roland Garros last year.

But Zverev moved into round three for the second time, where he will play Bosnian 26th seed Damir Dzumhur, as he looks to become the first German man to win the title since 1937.

Fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov went the distance, too, eventually coming through a marathon with American Jared Donaldson 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.

The Bulgarian was pushed all the way by world number 57 Donaldson in a match that lasted four hours and 19 minutes, but grabbed the crucial break in the 17th game of the deciding set as his opponent started to struggle with cramp.

Japan’s Kei Nishikori also staged a comeback to edge out Frenchman Benoit Paire on Philippe Chatrier court, winning 6-3, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in his first Grand Slam event since Wimbledon last year after recovering from a wrist injury.

Seventh seed Dominic Thiem, a semi-finalist in each of the last two years, grabbed the third set against Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas to lead 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 when darkness fell, with the pair to finish the match on Thursday.

– Halep fights back –

World number one Halep fought back after a disastrous opening set to beat American Alison Riske 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 in their delayed first-round match.

Halep, the runner-up in Paris in 2014 and 2017, slumped 0-5 down in the opening set to world number 83 Riske whose only win at the tournament came in 2014.

The Romanian committed 16 unforced errors in the set but stepped up a gear from that point on to book a second-round match against Taylor Townsend of the United States.

“It’s always difficult in the first round of a Grand Slam, you are always nervous,” said 26-year-old Halep after a match that was pushed back from Tuesday due to rain.

Halep needs to reach the semi-finals or better if she is to retain the world top spot.

Her main rival for the top ranking, second seed Caroline Wozniacki, joined her in the last 32 by thrashing Spanish qualifier Georgina Garcia Perez 6-1, 6-0 in only 51 minutes.

Eighth seed Petra Kvitova eased into the third round with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena on Court One.

The two-time Wimbledon champion has now won 13 consecutive matches on clay after claiming titles in Prague and Madrid, and will face Estonia’s 25th seed Anett Kontaveit for a place in the last 16.

Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina reached the last 32 for the fourth straight year by brushing aside Viktoria Kuzmova in straight sets.

The 23-year-old, who arrived in Paris having won her second straight Italian Open title, saw off her Slovakian opponent 6-3, 6-4 and will next take on Romanian 31st seed Mihaela Buzarnescu.

Elsewhere, charismatic Japanese 21st seed Naomi Osaka came through a tight match with Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas 6-4, 7-5.

Serena Williams, who made her Grand Slam return with a singles win on Tuesday, partnered sister Venus in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 doubles victory over Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Miyu Kato.

Zverev beat Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to continue his bid to become the first German man to take the title in Paris since 1937.

But the 21-year-old, who also speaks fluent English and Russian, was mystified when a reporter from the northern English county of Yorkshire wanted to know what it would take for him to finally win a Grand Slam.

“Where you from buddy?,” asked Zverev to the stunned journalist.

“Yorkshire,” replied his inquisitor.

“Nice. If they ever make a tournament there I’m coming just because of that accent.

“Love it. I didn’t understand a word you’re saying.”

The exchange lightened the mood for Zverev who is becoming increasingly impatient of being asked when he will make a breakthrough at the majors to match his impressive efforts on the ATP Tour.

He has a year-leading 32 wins and arrived in Paris with clay-court titles in Munich and Madrid and a runners-up finish to Rafael Nadal in Rome.

But the Slams is a different story.

His best is a run to the last 16 at Wimblesdon in 2017, just a few weeks after he was dumped out of Roland Garros in the first round.

He was defeated in the third round at the Australian Open in January by South Korea’s Chung Hyeon.

“Everybody tries to make a bigger story out of it than it is,” said Zverev who has now equalled his best run in Paris by making the third round.

“I have had great success on the ATP Tour, won three Masters, made two other finals this year. I’m not worried. I know if I’m doing the right things and if I do the right work I’ll win those long matches, and the success will come itself.”

He also recalled a morale-boosting conversation with Roger Federer at the Australian Open after he lost to Chung.

Federer, the record 20-time major winner, reminded him that it took him until he was into his 20s to get past the quarter-finals of a Slam.

Up to that point, an under-achieving Federer faced the same barrage of questions that Zverev is batting back now.

“Hearing that from the greatest player of all time is, you know, comforting, because you always think, Oh, if I’m not going to win this one, I’m never going to win one. And he’s the greatest player of all time,” he said.

Next up for the tall German in Paris is a third-round clash against Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur, the 26th seed, for a place in the last 16.

The Paris Saint Germain forward was injured in February and is yet to play a match since then, with two weeks to go before the World Cup kicks off in Russia.

“He’s getting better every day, getting faster, more agile and more difficult to defend against,” said Manchester City’s Danilo, who knows Neymar from his Santos days.

“He’s so fast you wouldn’t know whether to go, left, right, forwards or backwards,” Danilo said of Neymar’s trickery.

“We hope he’ll be 100% ready or as ready as is possible.”

Brazil play Croatia at Liverpool June 3 and against Austria in Vienna on June 10 before their opening World Cup game with Switzerland June 17.

Despite support from 4,000 fans at the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium, Thailand failed to match the form that led them to a fourth place finish in the 2012 World Grand Prix, losing 25-23 28-26 23-25 22-25 15-10. They also lost to Dominican Republic on Tuesday and have lost six out of eight matches in the tournament.

Louisa Lippmann scored 22 points in a brilliant display of power and precision from the European side.

Lippmann’s impressive tally included 21 kills as Germany regained their composure just at the right time to snap a six-game losing streak after a two and a half hour thriller of escalating tension.

The German captain Maren Fromm hit the winning spike to end the match with 20 points, joining Lippmann, Marie Scholzel (15), Lisa Grunding (14) and Jennifer Geerties (10) in a group of five German players to reach double figures.

For Thailand, Ajcharaporn Kongyot led the way with 22 points, including 20 spikes from 38 attempts, while Hattaya Bamrungsuk (17), Pleumjit Thinkaow (13) and Pimpichaya Kokram (11) all played superbly in a nail-biting match.

With the win, Germany ended a run of six losses to improve to 6-2 while Pool 11 hosts Thailand dropped to 6-2 after a match that featured not only great shot-making but also desperate defence.

Thailand host the United States in their final Pool 11 match on Thursday while Germany take on the Dominican Republic