TENNIS – World Number 1 Serena Williams will face tough opposition at this year’s Roland Garros where she could meet Viktoria Azarenka in the third round and her sister Venus in the fourth round before a possible quarterfinal clash against Caroline Wozniacki. Serena and Venus met only once in the Roland Garros in the 2002 final. Diego Sampaolo
Venus (15) will meet her compatriot Sloane Stephens in an intriguing first round match before a potential third round match against Barbora Strycova (27). It will be the first ever match between Venus and Sloane.
Wozniacki (5) will make her debut against Italian Karin Knapp (this week’s finalist in Nurnberg) before possible match-ups against Jelena Jankovic (25) and Andrea Petkovic (10) in the fourth round
The most intriguing first round match-ups in the top-half of the draw are Strycova vs Pironkova, Venus Williams vs Stephens, Wozniacki vs Knapp and Sara Errani (17) finalist in 2012 vs Riske.
In the second quarter of the draw Petra Kvitova (4), recent winner in Madrid, will open against Erakovic in the first round, followed by the winner of the match between Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Pauline Parmentier in the second round and a possible third round encounter with Irina Camelia Begu. Kvitova’s possible rival in the fourth round is this year’s Australian Open semifinalist Madison Keys (16) who beat Kvitova in the Round of 16 in Melbourne, Timea Bacsinszky (23) or rising star Belinda Bencic (last year’s US Open quarterfinalist) from Switzerland
Kvitova might face Canadian Eugenie Bouchard (last year’s semifinalist in the French Open) in the quarterfinal. Bouchard will open her French campaign against Kristina Mladenovic of France. After a difficult start to the 2015 season, Bouchard ended a six-match losing streak in Rome and held a match point against Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarterfinals. Mladenovic upset Li Na last year in Paris. Bouchard could face Zarina Diyas (32) from Kazakhstan in the third round and either Karolina Pliskova (12) or 2009 Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova (18) in the fourth round.
The best first round matches are Bouchard vs Mladenovic, Bethanie Mattek-Sands vs Irina Begu, Daniela Hantuchova vs Belinda Bencic and Qiang Wang vs Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion.
Number three seed Simona Halep, last year’s finalist in the Roland Garros, could face a tough third round match against Alizé Cornet (29) if the French player gets past Roberta Vinci, who has returned to a good level this week with final appearance in Nuremberg.
Halep could face Agniezska Radwanska (14) in the fourth round. The Polish player, who had a difficult start to her season, could take on emerging star Elina Svitolina (19) in a tough third round.
2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic (5) will meet in the first round Yaroslava Shvedova who reached the quarterfinals in Paris back in 2012 as a qualifier. Ivanovic could meet home favourite Caroline Garcia (31).
The most interesting match-ups in the second quarter are Svitolina vs Yanina Wickmayer, Ivanovic vs Shvedova, Louisa Chirico (a young US wild-card) vs Ekaterina Makarova and Cornet vs Vinci
The fourth quarter could feature a possible quarterfinal matchup between Maria Sharapova (2) and Carla Suarez-Navarro (8) who could meet for a possible re-match of the recent Rome final where Sharapova got the better of Suarez-Navarro.
Sharapova will face a tricky first round opponent in the form of Kaia Kanepi who has done well in Paris over the years. The defending champion could also face 2010 Roland Garros finalist Sam Stosur in the third round and either Sabine Lisicki or Lucie Safarova in the fourth round.
Suarez Navarro, the third Spanish player to reach the top-10, will take on Monica Nicolescu in the first round, possibly Virginie Razzano (who beat Serena Williams in the first round of the2012 Roland Garros) in the second round and Flavia Pennetta (28) in the third round and either Garbine Muguruza or Angelique Kerber (11) in the fourth round.
The most interesting first round matches in the fourth quarter are Pennetta vs Magda Linette, Tatjana Maria vs Camila Giorgi, Safarova vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sharapova vs Kanepi.
The potential fourth round matches are:
Serena Williams vs Venus Williams
Andrea Petkovic vs Caroline Wozniacki
Petra Kvitova vs Madison Keys
Karolina Pliskova vs Eugenie Bouchard
Ekaterina Makarova vs Ana Ivanovic
Simona Halep vs Agniewska Radwanska
Carla Suarez Navarro vs Angelique Kerber
Maria Sharapova vs Lucie Safarova
