TENNIS in DEPTH.

The bookies have made Rafael Nadal their pick to win his 5th French Open. But his road to the final will not be an easy one. He is in the bottom quarter of the draw and will have to make his passage past tough clay courters such as Verdasco, Almagro and Gonzalez.

Roger Federer as the top seed will meet rivals who hold victories over him. They include Gulbis, Cilic and Soderling.

Novak Djokovic, the forgotten man of tennis, has two tough Spaniards in his group. David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Andy Murray, who has ‘I hate clay written all over his face when he plays in Paris’, will have to defeat the likes of Tsonga, Berdych and DeBakker.

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The draw for the 2010 French Open has been made at Roland Garros. It has some very interesting match-ups, many of which will put recent rivals on a collision course as they try to reach the final.

Top seed Serena Williams is the same quarter as Justine Henin, Sam Stosur and Maria Sharapova. 

Jelena Jankovic is in the same quarter as her fellow Serbian Ana Ivanovic which might result in a  repeat of their encounter in Madrid. Safina, Wickmayer and Zvonareva are also in this group.

Caroline Wozniacki, if she is fit, has the easiest draw among the top seeds with only Kuznetsova and Pennetta to contend with.

The most interesting group is the bottom section where Venus Williams could meet with Aravane Rezai in a repeat of last week’s Madrid final. Azarenka, Dementieva and Martinez-Sanchez are all in this tough group.

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Fernando Verdasco had to battle to claim his place in the semi-finals of the Open De Nice Cote D’Azur on Thursday after being stretched to a final set by Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky.

The big-serving Stakhovsky had the Spaniard in trouble as he aimed to move closer to his 13th career ATP final, holding his nerve in a tight second set tie-break before Verdasco struck back to win 6-2 6-7 (7/5) 6-4.

Verdasco’s semi-final opponent will be Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer who pulled off a surprise 5-7 6-3 6-4 victory over fifth seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

The 23-year-old Mayer last reached a major semi-final in August last year.

Home hopes were dashed when third seed Gael Monfils blew a series of break-point opportunities and was made to pay as he slid to a disappointing 7-6 (7/2) 6-2 defeat to Italian Potito Starace.

However Starace must now face another Frenchman in Richard Gasquet, who finally ended the excellent run of Belgian veteran Olivier Rochus – second-round conqueror of top-seed Robin Soderling – 6-4 6-2.

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Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki retired with an injured ankle while trailing Zheng Jie of China 6-3 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Warsaw Open. Since she rolled her ankle in Charleston during the final against Zvonareva, Wozniacki has not played with any consistency, and many have speculated that she is hurting more than she has let on. She lost in Stuttgart, Barcelona and Madrid in the early rounds, and should have rested before Roland Garros. But she has an allegence to Poland, and that may have cost her any realistic chance of winning in Paris.

In the semifinals, Zheng will face either Greta Arn of Hungary or sixth-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine.

In the other semifinal, third-seeded Li Na of China will face Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania, who advanced after edging Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4, 7-5.

Li beat Sara Errani of Italy 6-2, 6-1.

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Roger Federer is back in Paris! The reigning French Open champion and world No.1 had a full day’s practice on Wednesday, having a hit-out on Philippe Chatrier court followed by another one away from prying eyes on No.2 court. The Swiss maestro enjoyed a few rallies with Croat Ivan Ljubicic, who is back to full fitness. The 2008 women’s winner Ana Ivanovic was also practising in the stadium on Wednesday, as was fellow Serb Novak Djokovic. The Williams sisters were also out on the courts, but Venus had to cut short her early-morning session to have the base of her back massaged. Father Richard was in attendance and had that trademark wry smile of his, which would seem to suggest that there was nothing to concern the elder of his two tennis-playing daughters in terms of fitness.

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Belgium’s Olivier Rochus knocked out the top seed Robin Soderling in the second round of the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur on Tuesday.

Swede Soderling was a losing finalist at last year’s French Open but the world number seven’s preparation for Roland Garros this time has been unimpressive.

The 2-6 6-4 6-4 defeat to Rochus represented a third successive loss, following setbacks to Stanislas Wawrinka in Rome and Nicolas Almagro in Madrid.

Next opponent Richard Gasquet is likely to prove more of an awkward obstacle for Rochus. The French player has beaten Rochus three times on clay in the past six weeks, dropping a mere six games in the process.

Today Gasquet beat Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-0 2-6 6-3 to set up the quarter-final with Rochus.

Second-seeded Spanish player Fernando Verdasco outclassed Frenchman Florent Serra 6-2 6-2, and will play Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky next.

Cypriot player Marcos Baghdatis, seeded fifth, beat Germany’s Simon Greul 6-3 6-2, and might have expected that to set up a quarter-final clash with fourth seed Thomaz Bellucci, however the Brazilian was crushed 6-4 6-1 by Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer.

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Can Justine Henin pick up where she left off at Roland Garros? The bookmakers say ‘yes’, and by some distance, but that might reveal more about the state of her opponents than Henin’s own form.

Henin won the first title of her second career in Stuttgart last month, and the fact that she was on clay when she finally got her hands on another trophy suggested she was back in the groove just in time for Paris.

Until then, she had interspersed some typically brilliant performances – notably in reaching the finals in Brisbane and at the Australian Open in her first month back – with some surprising lapses.

“I’m physically exhausted, but I can’t be disappointed,” Henin said after losing a dramatic Brisbane final to Kim Clijsters.

“I am proud of what I did on the court today. I left the Tour for 18 months and I can still compete with one of the best players out there.”

Reaching the final of the Australian Open a few weeks later was an incredible achievement, perhaps underestimated because her compatriot Kim Clijsters had actually won her first Grand Slam title after coming out of retirement at the US Open in September.

But Clijsters had enjoyed a longer build-up to that event and was at her very best come Flushing Meadows, while Henin was still finding her way back in Australia.

Whether she has now regained top form is open to question but Henin may not need to be at her absolute peak to win again at Roland Garros, as her leading rivals are not exactly firing on all cylinders.

The bookies have Serena Williams installed as a fairly distant second-favourite, primarily because she’s Serena.

Since winning the title in 2002 she has never again made it as far as the final, but the 12-time Grand Slam champion has an unrivalled ability to pick up her racquet, shake off any apparent lack of form and fitness and win major titles.

Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova is in terrible form, Dinara Safina is struggling with a back problem that threatens her career, Maria Sharapova is similarly short of form and fitness, Clijsters is out through injury, Venus Williams is on the rise but rarely shines in Paris, Jelena Jankovic can be brilliant one day and awful the next….

Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka are the two new faces to have broken into the top 10 during Henin’s 20-month absence but, in a familiar tale, there are doubts over their fitness and form.

The real threat to Henin might come from an altogether lower profile character.

France’s Aravane Rezai claimed a stunning win in Madrid last week – beating Henin, Jankovic and Venus along the way – Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez was an equally surprising winner in Rome, and Aussie Sam Stosur continues to display an unexpected liking for clay.

Ivanovic, the champion only two years ago, has shown signs in recent weeks that her game is flickering back to life after an alarming two-year slump, but a Grand Slam challenge still looks some way off.

Henin has had her own difficulties in recent weeks after breaking the little finger on her left hand while on Fed Cup duty, but the use of a splint did not stop her in Stuttgart.

“I never thought I’d be back in Stuttgart a year ago, and especially for it to be on clay now, it means a lot to me,” she said.

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Maria Sharapova dispatched qualifier Dia Evtimova 6-3 6-0 in the second round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg on Wednesday.

The Russian former world number one did not face a single break point as she swept past her Bulgarian opponent in just over an hour.

Evtimova did not get a look in as Sharapova won 100% of points on her serve in the first set and 91% in the second set.

Third seed Virginie Razzano from France crashed out as Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson came from a set down to win 3-6 6-3 6-2.

Fifth-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues progressed against Lucie Hradecka. She was leading 6-4 3-0 when the Czech player retired.

But things did not go as smoothly for sixth seed Sybille Bammer as Germany’s Julia Goerges beat the Austrian 6-1 7-6 (8/6).

Anastasija Sevastova, the seventh seed from Latvia, crushed France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-1 6-2.

Eighth seed Elena Baltacha is out, the Briton having to retire when she was 2-1 up in the first set against Australian Anastasia Rodionova because of back spasms.

Also through to the next round are Vania King and Kristina Barrois.

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