Justine Henin has just played her first clay court match of the season and showed she has lost none of her form from last year.

She was in dominant form against her young Chinese Taipei opponent, destroying Yung-Jan Chan 6-0 6-2. She is surely going to be the one to beat at Roland Garros. She is the three-times defending champion in Paris and who can stop her from making it four in a row? Not many players I can tell you! 

Maria Sharapova, however, is one of those outside chances of success. She is in terrific form on the WTA tour and has built a lot of confidence up during the first four months of the season which she will look to use to her advantage in this year's second Grand Slam event.

'The Russian everyone should be talking about is Vera Zvonareva'


She powered to victory in Australia destroying all her opponents and she will look to do the same on the slower red clay surface. Whether she has  the ability of Henin on the surface though is very doubtful, having only won her first clay tournament ever a few weeks ago.

Her power game is more suited to the faster hard courts and Sharapova may get distracted by long rallies, being forced into errors during her matches. I feel Henin, and indeed Serena Williams, may be too strong for the young Russian in this year's tournament and the Belgian especially will be very happy to be back at Roland Garros, her most successful tournament by far in her career.

Sharapova is dangerous, though - do not underestimate her ability. She can beat anyone on her day but may lack the consistency needed to tackle the seven matches successfully, whereas you feel Henin could play all through the two weeks at the same very high level.

The Russian everyone should be talking about is Vera Zvonareva. The comeback kid has been in sensational form this season and looks to break back into the world top 10 players by the end of the French Open. No player has reached more finals than Zvonareva this season and it may be the older Russian player who causes a stir in Paris rather than Sharapova.

There is no doubt that this year's women's championship will be keenly contested. Upsets are happening more regularly on the tour these days as the depth in the game is slowly increasing.

However, my choice for tournament victor would still be Henin. She is just too good and must feel invincible on court. Her level of consistency, quality of play and overall clay court game will be very difficult to beat and Sharapova may have to wait until Wimbledon to win her second major of the season.