Laura Robson
Former British number one on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

Serena's just got to play it wide, maybe open up a bit more width in the court.

Elena Rybakina keeps the skids under Serena, moving her about to see off the first break point.

But here comes another from deuce...

A groan of irritation from Serena as, 0-15 up, she chases hard to stay in the point, only to dump a drop-shot reply long over the back.

She clatters a return winner though on the next point as Rybakina dollies one into her wheelhouse.

15-30.

And then a double fault from Rybakina - her first of the match - brings up 30-40 and break point...

Laura Robson
Former British number one on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

The Serena movement just looks a little flat for me.

Rybakina is getting that first hit in and never looking back from it.

Better from Serena as she creeps up court and swipes away a forehand across court for 30-15.

She isn't quite getting the platform to blast away with the whole battery of shots though. But enough there to hold.

Image source, Getty Images

Laura Robson
Former British number one on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

It's been a real opportunity for a lot of the younger players once things opened up for them.

People coming back into form, like Pavlyuchenkova.

You just can't guess who'd going to do well in any given week.

No sign of vertigo from Elena Rybakina. The serve is still getting right up Serena's nostrils, coming up off the red dirt like a Mitchell Johnson bouncer at the Gabba.

Laura Robson
Former British number one on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

Serena's just got to be really consistent here and try and dictate from the back of the court.

If Rybakina gets the first hit in, it's very hard to push her back.

That'll do. Serena's serve is the first to take on water in this fourth-round match.

Elena Rybakina is swinging free and finding the sweet spot of the strings.

Image source, Getty Images

The first point against serve in the match comes into view like an oasis amid the desert haze.

It is nicely set up by Elena Rybakina as she shuttles Serena Williams side to side and then slides away a winner down the line for 15-15.

And another for 15-30. Serena's serve is creaking a little. Rybakina with a big look down the line...nope, overcooked.

But Rybakina zips in a fizzy return to bring up a break point at 30-40.

Serve is queen on Philippe Chatrier at the moment.

Twelve points, three games, all going to the player with the fuzz in hand.

Serena Williams, sporting that luminous green dress that has been a staple this Parisian spring, is sat on the baseline, splattering forehands like Jackson Pollock presented with fresh canvas.

An absolute threshing machine. And Elena Rybakina is serving up fresh fodder with nothing-much mid-court bounces for Serena to get her teeth into.

A hold to love.

Serena Williams is sporting a little bit of bilingual footwear in Paris this summer.

Am I right in thinking "Je ne m'arreterai jamais" translates to "I am never going to stop"?

And am I wildly off beam in thinking it might be a reference to Liverpool fans singing Allez, Allez, Allez, which features the line "we're never going to stop/ from Paris down to Turkey/ we've won the (expletive omitted) lot."?

Laura Robson
Former British number one on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

Rybakina's really dangerous, not lost a set yet and Serena can have these dips throughout the match.

I think this is going to be closer than we all think.

Had Covid not happened, Rybakina was on an absolute roll before the tour stopped.

Well, if Elena Rybakina was feeling any nerves, she has done a good job of faking it and making it.

A whistlestop hold to love to open up from the Kazak.

British umpire Alison Hughes' French pronunciation is on point.

"Pret," she barks. And both players are.

Rybakina to serve first...

Image source, Getty

Serena Williams is the highest-seeded player in the bottom of the French Open draw.

If the rest of the matches went with seeding then she would playing fellow American Sofia Kenin in the final...

Still plenty of road to run until we get to next Saturday's showpiece.

The winner of this one will play Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the last eight after the Russian saw off Victoria Azarenka earlier today.

Image source, Getty Images

Serena is facing Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina for a place in the last eight.

Rybakina has never faced Serena before. She has never been as deep in a Grand Slam before. Her form - a second-round defeat in Madrid, a first round withdrawal in Charleston - is decidedly 'meh'.

So, routine?

It may have been five, six years ago. When Serena was putting together Slams in different combinations for fun.

Not now though. Not with the 39-year-old uberstar's new vulnerabilities and old injuries.

Let's go.

Image source, EPA

Let me let you into a little media secret.

Not all reports are written immediately after the result. Not all features are prepared while the trophy is being engraved.

All around the world, there are thousands of words and miles of column inches sitting on hard drives, ready to be released into the wild once Serena Williams nails her 24th Grand Slam to move level with Margaret Court's all-time record.

Since she won the 2017 Australian Open with, unbeknown to the millions watching, little Olympia on board, those commemorative articles have been tweaked and refined.

There have been another four finals, Olympia is now three, but still they and she waits.

Could Roland Garros 2021 finally be the time Serena pulls level and the editors push publish?

Image source, Getty Images

And then there were three...

After third-round defeats for Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina, Serena Williams is one of just three top-10 players left in the Roland Garros draw.

Sofia Kenin and the ominously in-form Iga Swiatek are the other two.

Could this time, finally, be the time?