The French Open begins Sunday with a star-studded line-up including two former French Open champions, Jelena Ostapenko who opens her title defense and qualifier Francesca Schiavone. For the women, former runner-up Venus Williams plays her 21st French Open and four seed and tournament favorite Elina Svitolina embarks on her bid not just for a first […]

(5) Venus vs. Bencic the must-watch 1st rd. match in Melbourne…Other tough starts for (31) Makarova vs. Begu, and the injury-hampered (13) Stephens vs. Zhang, who she has previously lost to…

“I’m happy that I managed to play, to be kind of composed out there,” Muguruza said. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to react again on the centre court, playing against an ex-champ. I found a balance, even though some moments were difficult to overcome. I knew at some point she was going to come up with some great shots.”

“I want to say good job to this girl,” Schiavone said. “When I met her, she was 19 years old and we were playing doubles! She grew up a lot [over the] years…congratulations, I think you deserve much more.”

“Today was a disaster match,” Schiavone said.

No Top 10ers but an interesting field between the multi-Slam winner Kvitova, the French Open champ Schiavone, the former No. 1 Wozniacki, the former brand-wannabee Bouchard, and the breakout player Siegemund…

No. 94 Pereira gets seeded, and it must be strange for the Brazilian to be playing a WTA event in Brazil as her country at the same time hosts the Olympic tennis…

Venus Williams went 1-1 Monday at the Rome Masters, winning in singles but losing in doubles with her sister Serena.

“I’m very happy to win my first 500 title, especially after winning a special semifinal against one of the greatest players ever on clay,” Cuevas said. “Today, against Guido, I won a difficult but good match between the two of us…Guido is a very complete player. He had a great week here.”

Notes: Time for the tournament sponsored by an online betting site as the tour fights rampant match-fixing…Loaded dirt field…Rafa makes his first appearance since being upset at Wimbledon…Tough starts for (1) Rafa vs. Hot Sauce

Serena’s draw to the semifinals could go through Stosur, last year’s finalist Errani then the former French champ Ivanovic to meet either Sharapova or Wozniacki in the semis…

Not a lot of stars with Stuttgart looming next week…Tough starts for (8) Falconi vs. Cirstea, and (6) Rogers vs. the Spanish veteran Dominguez Lino…Wildcards went to Maria Paulina Perez Garcia, Maria Herazo Gonzalez, and Yuliana Lizarazo…Caroline Garcia beat Jelena Jankovic in last year’s final…Returning former champs in the field are Dominguez Lino (2011,’06) and Duque Marino (2010).

You might not see a better shot than this one all year.

DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS Dubai, U.A.E.; Surface: hard Seeds: Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin Del Potro, Tomas Berdych, Roger Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Mikhail Youzhny, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Dmitry Tursunov Floaters: Radek “The Worm” Stepanek, Igor Sijsling Notes: The defending champ Djokovic has won four Dubai titles (four of last five years) while Federer has won five…Djokovic […]

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal pulled from the event citing a stomach virus…Ferrer shooting for third title in a row…Wildcards went to Ferrer and Argentines Facundo Arguello and Guido Pella…Returning champs in the field are Ferrer (2013-12), Almagro (2011), Robredo (2009), and Monaco (2007).