Heavy rain halts play Saturday at the French Open

With Serena Williams about to start a second-set tiebreaker against Kristina Mladenovic, heavy rain has halted play in the French Open's third round.

Williams, the defending champion, took the first set 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier against her 26th-seeded French opponent. Mladenovic had just held serve to get to 6-all in the second set when they were sent to the locker room because of a thunderstorm.

Williams' older sister Venus is ahead 2-1, on serve, in her third-round match against France's Alize Cornet on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

In the only other singles match in progress, No. 11 David Ferrer is up two sets and a break against No. 21 Feliciano Lopez in an all-Spanish match on Court 1.