Tennis: On Court Suzanne Lenglen, Mary Pierce yesterday drilled her way past Spain's Gala Leon Garcia. Pierce, who won here in 2000, doesn't make such a big noise these days in the women's game but she is now just one match away from the fourth round and Pierce watchers are beginning to twitch.

Never short on power but the object of reasonable questions about her mobility following a series of injuries, Pierce will have strong support when she steps out to meet Venus Williams in the next round.

Since Pierce renounced Canada for French citizenship, Williams may well be subjected to the French crowd's speciality of roughing up players they don't wish to win. Serena got it last year when she faced Justine Henin-Hardenne in the semi- final. It worked a treat and the Belgian won.

Less muscled from creatine than a few years ago, Pierce no longer carries the bloated, beefed-up look, but from little Garcia she got little more than a light workout.

The Spaniard's serve was a restart instrument rather than a device for controlling the point. Pierce duly picked it off, taking just 49 minutes for the 6-1, 6-1 win.

Venus and her sister Serena were less clinical than Pierce but as usual caught the eye. Serena, particularly, treated the crowd to an outfit as eye-catching as anything she's worn. Sticking with the fuchsia-and-raspberry look, she abandoned the skirt for lycra shorts and embedded a diamond in her belly.

At least the ensemble distracted from her tennis as she struggled badly against her 17-year-old Czech opponent, Maria Kirilenko, who just broke into the top 100 at the end of May this year.

In what was her debut Roland Garros set, Kirilenko broke Williams for 6-4 before conceding the second set 6-2.

But the number-two seed and current favourite, now that Justine Henin-Hardenne is no longer here, was wildly erratic against the youngster, who threw herself at everything, continued to frustrate and showed little of nerves.

In the third set when it appeared that Williams would crank up the power and blow her away, the 100-ranked player again raised her level, Williams netting a backhand for a service break and Kirilenko serving to take a 3-0 lead. Suddenly Williams looked highly vulnerable and in deep trouble.

There was little sign of collapse from Kirilenko and if anything her game became bolder as momentum swung with her.

By the sixth game she was 4-2 ahead and it looked like the number-two seed might follow the number one out of the competition.

Finally Williams picked up her game and broke back for 4-4, served for 5-4 and broke Kirilenko for a second time for the match.

"I don't think I raised the level of my game at all. I pretty much stood there and told myself to keep fighting," said Williams.

"I just had a bad day. I couldn't keep a ball in. Today was one of those days. I felt kinda weird going into the match. I don't think I was nervous. I think I made like 1,000 mistakes."

Kirilenko departed the competition bleeding from the knees but with a number of new admirers.

With five Russians playing today in the main draw and Kirilenko's raw-boned talent impressively demonstrated, strength in the women's game could well shift over the next few years from West to East.

For Williams, she has some mending to do before her next game, against Croatia's Silvija Talaja. Suddenly her sister looks in better shape.