India's Sania Mirza, making her debut at Roland Garros, has been drawn with Argentine Gisela Dulko for the first round of the French Open. Sania will face stiff competition from the 30th seed, who will be playing on her favourtie surface.
Dulko had reached the third round of the French Open last year.
The top women's seeds were handed relatively comfortable opening matches at the French Open. The luck of the draw may work against the big guns come the second week though, as a series of stunning fourth round matches should lead to a major cull.
Lindsay Davenport-Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams-Anastasia Myskina, Jelena Jankovic-Amélie Mauresmo and Svetlana Kuznetsova-Justine Henin-Hardenne are just a few of the mouth-watering last-sixteen encounters in prospect.
Serena Williams' last-minute withdrawal due to an ankle injury has left a hole in the bottom half of the draw. Among those who may profit from the absence of the big-hitting American are second seed Maria Sharapova, fellow Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova (7), French hope Amélie Mauresmo (3), and Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne (10).
World #2 Maria Sharapova will need to bring her A-game right from the opening ball against tricky compatriot Evguenia Linetskaya. Thereafter, things should get easier until the quarters, even if Nathalie Dechy (13), a recent semi-finalist at the Australian Open, could test her at the last sixteen stage.
Come the last eight, and the Wimbledon champion will have her work cut out. Either big-hitting compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova or 2003 champion Justine Henin-Hardenne will stand in her way, and on current form the Belgian must be tipped to prevail. Recent winner on clay at Charleston, Warsaw and Berlin, the former world number one is the bookies' favourite, and providing she eases past Spanish former finalist Conchita Martinez in the first round, could go all the way again.
If Sania, in the bottom half of the draw, gets past two rounds, she'd meet Kuznetsova in the third. Sania had defeated the world number seven 6-4, 6-2 to enter the quarterfinals at the Dubai Open and create a sensation round the world.
Things though have changed a bit since as Sania has been plagued with ankle injuries and had to pull out of a couple of tournaments. Her comeback in Miami was also uneventful, as she lost in first round.
Sania also failed to qualify for the main draw of the US $170,000 Strasbourg Open in France last week. The Indian, who thrives on her powerful groundstrokes, will find clay a diffcult surface to counter. But she has already created history by becoming the first Indian women to get a direct entry into a Grand Slam.
