Italian fifth seed Francesca Schiavone began the defence of her French Open crown with a confident 6-2 6-0 victory over world No.88 Melanie Oudin.

The 19-year-old American, who became famous during her 2009 Wimbledon and US Open runs which she hasn’t been able to repeat ever since, was tipped as a possible test for Schiavone. However, she won only two games against the defending champion, and hit six winners to Schiavone's 25.

Schiavone’s opponent in the second round will be either Anne Keothavong or Vesna Dolonts.

If you think Schiavone has a chance to repeat her last year's extraordinary feat and win the French Open, vote for her in our poll. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Roland Garros 2011 has been awaited as a big occasion for world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki to win her maiden Grand Slam, or as a venue where Kim Clijsters will reassert the dominance of the "old generation", or maybe as an unexpected place for Maria Sharapova to remind us what she's made of. Let's not forget defending champion Francesca Schiavone and an always-lurking possibility of an emergence of a lesser known player or new player in the limelight such as Petra Kvitova and Julia Goerges.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki will play Kimiko Date Krumm in the first round, and then has possible matches against Daniela Hantuchova and the 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the quarterfinals the Dane could face last year's runner-up Samantha Stosur. But let's not overlook that world No.18 Julia Goerges, who largely owes her fame to the two recent victories over Wozniacki, is in the same quarter of the draw.

Third seed Vera Zvonareva is in the second quarter, as well as defending champion Francesca Schiavone, who failed to impress in the clay lead-up to the French Open but this week in Brussels she reached the semifinals where she lost to Wozniacki. The Italian's first opponent will be Melanie Oudin. Jelena Jankovic, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Flavia Pennetta, Alisa Kleybanova and Nadia Petrova are also in this quarter. Read more »

The semifinal encounter of world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone was not interesting only because all eyes are on Wozniacki's clay play ahead of the French Open and because Schiavone is defending her title there, but also because they happen to be in the same half of the today-announced draw for the clay court Grand Slam. Wozniacki proved to be a bit better from her Italian opponent and edged a 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory.

At 4-4 in the first set, Wozniacki won her service game to love and to take the first set she followed it by breaking Schiavone to love. The second set was again leveled at 4-4, but then Schiavone broke for a 5-4 lead and won the next, long game, after saving break points. The third set was the most tightly-contested. Wozniacki opened up with a 2-0 lead, as Schiavone piled up three unforced errors in the second game. And even though Schiavone broke back right away, later, in the eighth game, Wozniacki earned a crucial break and went on to reach the Brussels Open final. Read more »

World No.4 Francesca Schiavone skipped last weekend's Fed Cup action in order to start the clay court season fresh and prepared so that she can give her best in defending the French Open title, but the start wasn't as successful as she hoped for. The Italian lost her opening match on clay to Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and in straight sets, 6-1 6-3.

In previous years, it was Schiavone who won all the four encounters with Radwanska, but in 2011, the Pole defeated Schiavone 6-0 6-2 in Miami and now in Stuttgart, in their first meeting on clay. Read more »

Straight from winning the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, Caroline Wozniacki rushed to Monte Carlo for an exhibition match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters with the 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone. The Danish world No.1 lost the one-set match, 6-4.

Wozniacki is bursting with confidence, so much that she booked her flight so close to the end of her Charleston final that they could have easily overlapped. Here’s what Diane of Women Who Serve, who regularly attends Charleston, said:

After the final, she dashed in to a press conference, and then almost immediately dashed right out. The champion had to catch a flight to the ATP tournament in Monaco […] So I'm left with a couple of questions: What if the second set in Charleston had gone to a tiebreak? What if it had gone to three sets?

Despite losing at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, Wozniacki enjoyed her appearance at the ATP event, especially because her home is just up the street from the Monte Carlo tournament venue. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)