Serena Williams is through to the fourth round of the French Open courtesy of a thrilling 3-6 6-4 6-2 victory over Victoria Azarenka.

Williams dropped her serve immediately as a tame backhand into the net gifted Azarenka a 2-0 lead, but she hit back soon after.

However, some brutal groundstrokes from Azarenka saw her break the American again and she served the set out impressively.

The former world number one looked confident of victory halfway through the second set as she earned another break of serve to move 3-1 ahead, but Williams battled back hard to level the score at 4-4.

The pumped up American broke again two games later to clinch the set 6-4, but she lost her serve at the beginning of the third set to give her opponent an advantage.

However, Azarenka failed to win another game as Williams increased the pressure and rattled off six games in a row to book her place in the next round, where she will meet fellow American Sloane Stephens.