Henin v Serena, French Open Womens QF Previews

(3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) vs. (7) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) -- Ivanovic leads, 2-1

The first quarterfinal in the bottom half of the draw will see two of the leading exponents of clay court tennis on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour go head-to-head for the second time in less than a month. Kuznetsova enjoyed a wonderful clay court season in 2006, culminating in a runner-up finish at Roland Garros; she has followed this up with an even better 2007 reaching the semifinals in Warsaw before final defeats in Berlin and Rome.

Her conqueror in Berlin was the ever-improving Ivanovic, who triumphed in an absorbing contest on her way to securing the second Tier I title of her career. This encounter will be the high-flying Serbian's second quarterfinal appearance in Paris and the 19-year-old will be keen to erase the memories of a tame straight set defeat to Nadia Petrova two years ago. Kuznetsova has yet to drop a set in the French capital and her commanding victory over Israeli talent Shahar Peer in the last round will have made the other players in the draw sit up and take notice. Ivanovic looked no less impressive in her first three rounds, but was really made to work for her quarterfinal berth, struggling with clay court standout Anabel Medina Garrigues for over two hours before finally overcoming the tenacious Spaniard in three tough sets.

(1) Justine Henin (BEL) vs. (8) Serena Williams (USA) -- Williams leads, 6-3

Ever since the draw for Roland Garros was made a week and a half ago, all eyes have been on the top section of the draw and the potential quarterfinal meeting between two of the season's outstanding performers, Henin and Williams. On Sunday afternoon the dream match-up became reality when both players came through potentially tricky fourth-round matches in impressive fashion. Five-time Grand Slam winner Henin has been in imperious form for the first half of the fortnight and is yet to drop a set in the defence of the title she has held for the past two years.

Standing in her way will be the rejuvenated Williams, a former Roland Garros champion herself and winner of the year's first Slam, the Australian Open. The 25-year-old American is yet to find her best form in Paris, but she has improved as the tournament has progressed and she will be eager to record her second victory of the season over her Belgian rival. The first came by way of a thrilling comeback win in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open in March, where the world No.8 bounced back from a first set drubbing to record a memorable three-set victory. This win in Miami snapped a thirteen match winning streak for Henin and Williams will be keen to end another run on Tuesday. The current world No.1 has won a staggering 18 matches in a row in Paris and if she emerges triumphant from her quarterfinal battle, she will move ahead of Steffi Graf into fifth place on the all-time list of consecutive singles match wins at Roland Garros.

Court Suzanne Lenglen

(4) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) vs. (6) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) -- Vaidisova leads, 4-2

When Jankovic and Vaidisova step on court for their quarterfinal contest on Suzanne Lenglen they certainly will not view each other as strangers, having clashed six times in the past two years. Despite failing to take a set off the Czech teenager in their first three meetings, Jankovic has had the better of their last three encounters, with a defeat in Linz last October being sandwiched between two three-set victories at the US Open and then Sydney at the turn of the year.

The win at Flushing Meadows proved to be the catalyst for a run all the way to the semifinals and Jankovic will hope victory on her Roland Garros quarterfinal debut will inspire her to go all the way in Paris. However, Vaidisova will arguably be the 22-year-old Serbian's toughest challenge to date and the 18-year-old Czech has looked highly impressive during the first week of the tournament. She also has pedigree in the French capital, having made it all the way to the semifinals in just her second ever Roland Garros appearance 12 months ago and if she can repeat the performance she gave during her 66-minute destruction of Tathiana Garbin on Sunday then she has every chance of going even further this time round.

(2) Maria Sharapova (RUS) vs. (9) Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) -- Sharapova leads, 3-0

Sharapova's reward for her thrilling three-set victory over Patty Schnyder is a quarterfinal match-up with her compatriot and rival Chakvetadze. The pair also met at the same stage of the Australian Open and world No.9 Chakvetadze will be out to avenge the narrow defeat she suffered at Melbourne Park. Prior to this year the Muscovite had never been beyond the fourth round in Grand Slam competition, but now she has achieved the feat in consecutive Majors.

Sharapova on the other hand will be making her third quarterfinal bow at Roland Garros; her previous two appearances both ended in defeat losing straight sets encounters with Paola Suarez in 2004 and Justine Henin one year later. Entering the tournament off the back of an injury-plagued last few months, the Russian has improved with every round and will be quietly confident of chalking up her fourth career triumph over her fellow 20-year-old. However, Chakvetadze will be out to put an end to that run and in a year which has seen the elegant Russian capture her third career title in Hobart, as well as climb to her highest ever world ranking of No.9, few would rule her out of doing so and recording her 30th victory of the season in the process.
-- Courtesy WTA Tour