Serena courts rare resistance

Tennis French Open preview: Johnny Watterson sees a formidable challenge from old Europe to the Williams hegemony in women's tennis

With Venus and Serena Williams at different ends of the draw, a repeat of last year's final, in which Serena won the first of her four consecutive Grand Slam titles, is once again a possibility over the next two weeks in Paris.

Self-evident, you may think, but as the two Americans continue to dominate the landscape in the women's game, two Belgians in the ascendant are continuing to make ground in their roles as the principle acts on tour capable of matching the Americans. Potential semi-final pairings are Serena against Justine Henin-Hardenne and Venus against Kim Clijsters. In the women's event, it could be an all-Belgian or all-American final.

Serena, the undisputed world number one, has lost only three times in the last six months: to Clijsters in the Masters, to Henin-Hardenne in Charleston and recently to France's Amélie Mauresmo in Rome.

Still, it is difficult to imagine a firmer favourite for the women's title than the world number one. She comes to Paris on the back of 28 straight Grand Slam victories.

In winning the Australian Open last January, Serena became only the fifth player, after Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova, to win four consecutive majors.

Clijsters arrives at Roland Garros as the player who currently divides the two sisters in the world rankings. So used to the ranking sequence being Serena one, Venus two, Clijsters has played her way into the second position on the ladder, knocking the elder Williams into three. That alone could generate enough confidence to make this the beaten 2001 finalist's year.

Clijsters, clearly in form, is also one of the few players in the world able to stand up to the Williamses' power.

Even though more and more women are capable of winning tournaments these days, it is unusual to see a meeting between two tournament possibles in the first round of a Major.

Three-time winner Monica Seles can count herself unlucky to be pitted against Nadia Petrova in her first match. Though ranked 76th, the 20-year-old Russian has shown that she can mix with the best players around thanks to her powerful offensive game. She reached the last 16 in Paris in 2001 and will be seen by Seles as a most dangerous opponent.

Among the fancied outsiders is French number one Mauresmo, seeded five. Should the Marseille native make it to the quarter-finals, which on form looks likely, she will again meet Serena. But Mauresmo on form equates to high expectations from the Parisian crowd and in recent years the player with one of the most exquisite backhands in the game has cracked under the pressure.

Mauresmo's last-16 opponent, the wispy Daniela Hantuchova, seeded nine, who played in Dublin last year, should also prove to be a significant hurdle. The 2001 champion, Jennifer Capriati, is seeded seven to meet Venus in the quarters, another tasty pairing for the competition.

If the seeds and rankings go according to order, which invariably they do not, the last-16 pairings at the top of the draw will feature S Williams (one) v Sugiyama (16), Hantuchova (nine) v Mauresmo (five), Henin-Hardenne (four) v Daniilidou (14) and Myskina (11) v Rubin (eight). The bottom of the draw will have Capriati (seven) v Seles (12), Dementieva (13) v V Williams (three), Davenport (six) v Dokic (10) and Maleeva (15) v Clijsters (two).

Surprises and upsets are usually guaranteed in the men's draw, with the pick of the first-round games appearing to be Gustavo Kuerten (15) against Marc Rosset, even though the Swiss plays far fewer games these days. Invariably the big names attract most attention, with Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi polling high in terms of interest.

Agassi is a bet although he will have to be razor sharp to get past Marcelo Rios, the ill-tempered but talented Chilean, while Hewitt, despite being the world number one, is not high on people's lists of potential winners because of his poor past record on clay. He will also have to meet a two-time winner in Russian Nikolay Davydenko.

Certain seeds will be tested straightaway, such as the Thai, Paradorn Srichaphan, never at home on clay and up against Dominik Hrbaty. Wimbledon champion Hewitt will face American Brian Vahaly in the first round, with Agassi taking on Karol Beck.

The talented Juan Carlos Ferrero will meet a hopeful Michel Kratochvil in what should be a straightforward match, as the Swiss player is just returning from injury, with the fancied Roger Federer meeting Luis Horna from Peru.

Andy Roddick, who plays Armenian Sargis Sargsian in his first outing, has promised much over the last few years but has yet to deliver at Grand Slam level. Hailed as the successor to Agassi and Sampras, who has pulled out of the tournament, Roddick's firebrand style has captured imaginations but his patience is questionable. On a surface where matches can sometimes last as long as a round of golf, Roddick may well have the skills but could also burn out.

Of them all, Federer has probably drawn the most lenient path through the early stages and could very well go a long way assuming he overcomes Vince Spadea (29) in the third round. Last year, however, Federer was trounced in the first round by Hicham Arazi after coming off a marvellous Masters Series win in Hamburg, indicating that he may well be a big scalp for an outsider to get in the very early stages.