French Open Betting / Editor / 24 May 2007 /

Rafael Nadal goes into the French Open Championships chasing a third men's singles title. Justin Henin can go one better. She has already won the women's singles title three times - in 2003, 2005 and 2006.

As the No. 1 player in the Sony Ericsson women's rankings she can expect to start favourite to retain her title when the seeds and draw are announced on Friday.

But this year is more wide open than usual. The 5ft 6in Belgium, who is 25 on June 1 just two days before Nadal is 21, missed the first Grand Slam of the season when she was coping with her marriage break-up.

Since then she has gritted her teeth and found her form again in winning the Dubai title in late February, the Doha crown in March and reached the final of the Miami event in April before losing to Serena Williams 0-6 7-5 6-3.

After that hiccup she recovered to chalk up a win at the start of the clay-court season by landing the Warsaw title with victories over Jelena Jankovic and Alona Bondarenko.

And in mid-May she beat Jankovic again before falling to Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-finals in Berlin.

It was Kuznetsova she beat in last year's French Open final having defeated France's Mary Pierce in 2005 and Kim Clijsters in 2003 as well as in last year's semi-final. She has yet to drop a set in a French final and will be confident going into Paris. In fact, she didn't drop a set at any stage in last year's Championships.

But who are the main contenders? Well Clijsters, for one, won't be there. The Belgian star has retired from the sport at the age of 23 to marry US basketball player Brian Lynch, who now plays in Belgium. The big date is July 14.

At least she takes a US Open title with her into retirement but was frustrated in Paris where she twice reached the final, losing to Henin in 2003 and Jennifer Capriati in 2001 - 12-10 in the third set.

France's hopes rest with Amelie Mauresmo, who will go in search of her first French title having broken her Grand Slam duck last year with wins at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. But two quarter-final appearances in 2003 and 2004 are the best she has managed so far as she follows in the footsteps of France's last women's champion Mary Pierce.

Pierce reached her first French final in 1994 but had to wait until 2000 to add the Paris crown to her 1995 Australian title.

After that the weight of expectation proved too heavy - and so it has been with Mauresmo. Maybe now with these two Grand Slam titles to her name, 2007 will prove to be different for the 27-year-old.

But she has not had the best of preparations having recently recovered from an appendix operation in mid-March. In fact, she only managed to reach the last 16 in Berlin where she defended her title, losing to Julia Vakulenko 2-6 6-1 6-2. In Rome last week she lost in the last 32 to Samantha Stosur 7-5 6-7 7-6.

That left the way for Jankovic to take the title and she did so in style by not dropping a set - the first woman to do that in Rome since Conchita Martinez 13 years ago

But Mauresmo isn't the only big name with injury worries. World No 2 Maria Sharapova has returned to action from a shoulder injury just this week in the Istanbul Cup.

This is the 20-year-old Russian star's first tournament since lost 6-1 6-1 to Serena Williams in the Miami tournament at the start of April and it means she has, at best, just four matches on clay to prepare for Paris, after receiving a first-round bye.

Serena Williams, of course, is the player everyone will want to avoid - but especially Sharapova, who went crashing to her in the Australian Open final in January 6-1 6-2 when the American was unseeded.

Williams is a past winner in Paris and has the distinction of having claimed all four majors. She's a winner whatever the surface and, after a two-year absence in Paris, will want to reclaim the title she won in 2002 when he beat her sister Venus in straight sets. And Serena's resurgence has taken her to No 9 in the world.

Who else could spell danger? Serbian world No 4 Jankovic, 22, is a girl in form having warmed up for Paris by beating world No 3 Kuznetsova 7-5 6-1 in the Rome final last weekend.

A week earlier, the other young Serb Ana Ivanovic, a 6ft 19-year-old who is world No 8, needed an extra set to beat Kuznetsova in taking the Berlin title 3-6 6-4 7-6 having overcome Swiss star Patty Schnyder 7-5 3-6 6-4.

Finally if you are looking for a long shot, don't rule out Martina Hingis, the comeback girl now in the second year of her second coming. She has won every major except the French Open. But she is still only 26 and the world No 6 may not have the power but she still has the skill.

But, with all the injury problems affecting two or three of the leading contenders, the draw may yet throw up the prospect of a Williams-Henin final. Williams leads 6-3 in head-to-heads but all Henin's wins have come on clay, including the 2003 French Open semi-final three-setter.

Henin trades at 2.64 to retain her title while Williams is quoted at 5.9 to recapture it. You can get odds of 90 on Hingis while Sharapova trades at 21 and Mauresmo at 11.

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