Down 1-4, love-15 in the second set, Serena Williams finally flipped the switch.

A makeable but missed backhand by Danielle Collins sent her into a gear that few, if any, possess. Three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport said on the Tennis Channel broadcast that she’s never seen anyone with the ability to change the temperature of a match so quickly.

Serena won the match 6-4, 6-4 and advanced to Sunday’s round of 16.

“Today in particular, this whole week thus far, I just needed a win,” she told reporters. “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.”

No kidding. This is how champions see themselves, and it’s worked for Serena on the way to an Open Era record 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

And it might be happening again. With the departure of the top three seeds from the bottom half of the draw – No.2 Naomi Osaka, No.3 Aryna Sabalenka and No.6 Bianca Andreescu – Serena is certainly the favorite to emerge from her half of the draw, and along with defending champion Iga Swiatek, one of the favorites to win it all.

Here’s a look at the Sunday lineup, which features three first-time matchups:

No.7 Serena Williams vs. No.21 Elena Rybakina

Serena, who turns 40 in September, was sluggish at times in the first two rounds, but she put it together against Collins.

There couldn’t be a much greater gap in terms of major experience. Serena is playing in her 78th Grand Slam – and has advanced to the fourth round 64 times. Rybakina, a 21-year-old from Kazakhstan, is playing in her seventh and this is her first trip to the fourth.

READ: 'I needed to find me': Assessing Serena's opening week at the French Open

Ranked No.22, Rybakina defeated Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-4. This is the first time she’s won three consecutive matches in five months, when she reached the quarterfinals in Abu Dhabi.

Before she knew who her next opponent would be, Rybakina had a clear preference.

“Of course I would like to play with Serena.”

Why?

“The legend of the sport,” Rybakina answered. “Of course I want to be with her on the court, to feel this power and everything. I was watching her matches when I was growing up, and it will be nice to play with Serena. Why not?”

Said 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. The tables are turned.

“So now 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.”

Right out of the box

Serena’s recent match results are rarely an accurate indicator of Grand Slam performance.

Serena triumphs in all-American third-round vs. Collins: Roland Garros Highlights

After losing to Osaka in the semifinals of the Australian Open, she didn’t play a match for three months. Then in Rome she lost her first match to Nadia Podoroska (ranked No.44). A week later in Parma, Serena beat qualifier Lisa Pigato, then fell to Katerina Siniakova (ranked No.68).

“I’ve had a rough clay-court season thus far,” Serena said, “so I’m happy to get some wins on the clay.”

No.15 Victoria Azarenka vs. No.31 Anastasia 

One month ago, No.3 seed Sabalenka defeated Pavlyuchenkova in the semifinals at Madrid, then Barty in the final, declaring herself a serious candidate for the upcoming French Open.

On Friday, Pavlyuchenkova pulled the upset of the tournament, sending off Sabalenka 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.

It was Pavlyuchenkova’s 37th career win against a Top 10 player. She’s in a retro mood, trying to reach the quarters at Roland Garros for the first time in a decade.

“That was a while ago,” Pavlyuchenkova said afterward, smiling. “I was the first one to laugh at this, [when] players would say, `I’m going to go and enjoy out there.’ I’m like, `Yeah, right. Go enjoy, of course, good luck.’ Now I actually do that.

“Even today on the court, apart from having pain in my knee and my leg, I was enjoying. I’m trying to embrace this. I’m enjoying much more now every point the tough matches than I used to before. I guess that also the reason why I’m still here in the second week.”

It’s been eight years since Azarenka got this far at Roland Garros. That was 2013, when she reached the semifinals. She also made the quarterfinals in 2009 and 2001.

At 31, she is starting to pile up some impressive statistics. Her 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Madison Keys was her 137th Grand Slam main draw win – fourth among active players after Serena (365), Venus Williams (270) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (154).

“I always feel like I can do something at any tournament,” Azarenka said after her first-round win over Kuznetsova. “I think setting goals and making sure that you show up with a constant effort, that is something that I will ask myself every single day. I always believe in myself. I’m always going to push myself to the limit.”

An agonizingly slow start

Pavlyuchenkova, at 29, has become something of a perfectionist. She actually got upset with herself four points into the match against Sabalenka.

“I had straightaway 15-40 on her serve the first game, and I felt really good today, I was in a good state of mind going into the match,” she said. “Then I kind of missed a few chances to break her. She started to attack a lot and played very aggressive. It was very quick 3-0 to her.

“Yeah, that’s definitely not how I wanted to start the match, so I got a little irritated but still kept on fighting.”

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Pavlyuchenkova said of Azarenka: “All I can say is she’s great, obviously, very great player, great fighter. She’s been proving and showing to everybody that she’s still got a lot of fuel, especially the last year at the US Open, probably one of the best and amazing tennis she showed.

“We’re at the Grand Slam second week now. There is nothing to say. You just got to beat the best players, great players, try to do your best.”

Head-to-head: 5-1, Azarenka.

Tamara Zidansek vs. Sorana Cirstea

These are the two-lowest ranked players left in this half of the draw. Zidansek, a 23-year-old from Slovenia, is ranked No.85. Cirstea, a 31-year-old Romanian, is No.54.

Cirstea’s best Grand Slam showing is right here at Roland Garros, a quarters berth in 2009. Her 12-year gap between Round of 16 appearances is an Open Era record at Roland Garros.

READ: Great Escapes 2021: Winning from match point down

“If you ask me 12 years ago if I would still be playing today, I would definitely say no,” Cirstea said in her post-match press conference. “But you never know. I just go with the flow. I’m healthy, I’m enjoying myself, I think I’m playing at a very good level, probably one of the best I have been.

“I’m not going too far ahead with my mind. I’m actually enjoying all this process. Definitely I’m enjoying much more than I did 12 years ago, and I think this comes with maturity.”

Cirstea defeated Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2, while Zidansek was a 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 winner over Katerina Siniakova.

This is uncharted territory for the Zidansek. She’s never been past the first round at Roland Garros, or the second round of any Slam.

Her surge began back in April with a run to the final in Bogota. She lost to Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, but picked up 13 spots in the rankings – and some confidence. In the first round, she upset No.6 seed Bianca Andreescu in an epic match, 6-7 (1), 7-6 (2), 9-7.

“It’s definitely a confidence-boost to know that you can play against a Top 10 player and win at a major tournament in the first round and especially when it goes the distance,” Zidansek said. “I prepared for that match the same way I did today, and I’m just going to keep doing that.”

Laying the foundation

Along with No.88-ranked Varvara Gracheva, Zidansek has overachieved the most in Paris. But don’t call her an overnight sensation.

“I have had some opportunities in the past, and my career has always been, like, progressing slowly and slowly, like building a house,” Zidansek said of her win over Andreescu. “It was never like I was 16 years old and I just did one result. I have to work for everything, so I guess that kind of made a solid ground for me being able to not have that letdown.”

This will be their first meeting.

No.20 Marketa Vondrousova vs. No.33 Paula Badosa

A year ago, Vondrousova came into her first match at Roland Garros full of hope. She was coming off a semifinal appearance in Rome and was playing an unseeded Polish teenager.

You know how that turned out. Swiatek won 6-1, 6-2 and left the field in her considerable wake on the way to the title.

“I played Iga here, and everybody was, like, `Oh, my God, first round,’” Vondrousova told reporters. “I was like, `She played amazing. Just wait, guys.’ And she won the whole tournament. I was, like, `Yeah, I told you.’”

The 21-year-old from the Czech Republic can relate to Swiatek’s experience. In 2019, it was Vondrousova, then 19, who won her first six matches at Roland Garros before losing to Barty in the final.

While many of the seeded players around her are gone, she’s been steady, beating veteran Kaia Kanepi, French wildcard Harmony Tan and, most recently, Polona Hercog 6-3, 6-3.

In a match of sustained excellence, Badosa battled Ana Bogdan and came out the winner 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. It was her eighth straight win on clay, and the 23-year-old Spaniard could be forgiven for dropping her first set in that spree.

In the season’s first Grand Slam, Badosa was one and done. Clay has been far kinder. She advanced to the semifinals in Charleston (beating Barty in the quarters) and Madrid before winning the Serbia Ladies Open. It all adds up to 16 wins in 18 tries on clay.

“She’s had the best results in her career in the last couple of months,” Bogdan said of Badosa. “So I knew it’s going to be really hard to play against her.”

Vondrousova will savor the challenge.