French Open: Women's Preview

Last year's champion and this year's 6th seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova will try to reverse her current fortune's and go far in this competition. She should be okay until the fourth round when she faces stiff competition with either 11th seed Na Li or, more likely, 17th seed Francesca Schiavone. In the same quarter as Kuznetsova is the 3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki. She should be the favorite, but with recent injuries, she's a bit uncertain. Wozniacki can either face 14th seed Flavia Pennetta or Lucie Safarova.

Second seed and former finalist Venus Williams anchors this half of the draw, but gets a potentially tricky first round match with former top ten player, Patty Schnyder. Fourth round may see her face off against 15th seed Aravane Rezai or 19th seed Nadia Petrova with possibly dangerous floaters Agnes Szavay and Anna Chakvetadze lurking as well. If the older Williams sister makes it this far, 5th seed Elena Dementieva, 10th seed Victoria Azarenka, or Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez would be her most likely quarterfinal opponents.

Jelena Jankovic, the 4th seed, will yet again try and get her maiden slam. Her early rounds are full of tricky players, but she should be able to reach at least the fourth round where she could face 16th seed Yanina Wickmayer or Daniela Hantuchova. There is also Carla Suarez Navarro acting as potential spoiler. Her quarterfinal challenges include last year's finalist Dinara Safina, former champion Ana Ivanovic, and 8th seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

Finally, but top seed and former champion Serena Williams will look to add more hardware to her already full shelf. Despite only playing one tournament since winning the Australian Open, it's foolish to underestimate her. She looks likely to reach the fourth round where 13th seed Marion Bartoli or 18th seed Shahar Peer awaits her. Four-time champion and currently 22nd seed Justine Henin could face Serena in the quarterfinals but must first get through a struggling Maria Sharapova, the 12th seed. That section also contains 7th seed workhorse Samantha Stosur and Jie Zheng.

Semifinals:
Justine Henin d. Jelena Jankovic
Flavia Pennetta d. Elena Dementieva

Finals:
Justine Henin d. Elena Dementieva