By Richard Pagliaro | Friday June 4, 2021
While fellow Top 10 seeds have scattered, Serena Williams is turning Roland Garros opening week into a singular statement of identity.
Chasing a 24th Grand Slam title to match Margaret Court's all-time record, Williams played with heavy taping wrapping her right thigh and still showed strong closing kick.
More: Serena Shows A Game vs. Collins
Rallying from a break down in the second set, Williams raced through five straight games defeating Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-4 to reach the French Open fourth round.
Tested to three sets in her second round win, Williams said struggle has strengthened her.
"Today in particular, this whole week thus far, I just needed a win," Williams said. "I needed to win tough matches. I needed to win sets. I needed to win being down. I needed to find me, know who I am.
"Nobody else is Serena out here. It's me. It's pretty cool."
It can get even cooler considering the seventh-seeded Williams is the highest seed still standing in the bottom half of the draw, which saw world No. 2 Naomi Osaka withdrew for mental health reasons and third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka fall in three sets to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova today.
While the 39-year-old Williams can see a clear path to the final, it doesn't get any easier as she faces hard-hitting Russian Elena Rybakina for a spot in the quarterfinals. The 21st-seeded Russian has not dropped a set through three rounds and says she's pumped for a shot at a "legend of the sport" in Serena.
"It's an interesting position to be in because I've been in that position, too, where I've played people that I really admired, but at the same time I wanted to win the match," Williams said. "The tables are turned. So now, yeah, I feel like that's the same situation, but they want to win. Then they have nothing to lose.
"They just are hitting lines. You have to just realize that you can hit the lines, too."
Photo credit: Roland Garros Facebook