Henin could meet Serena in French Open quarter-finals

PARIS (AP): Four-time champion Justine Henin's return to Roland Garros might include a third-round match against Maria Sharapova and a rivalry-renewing quarter-final against Serena Williams.

The bracket also sets up Henin or the No. 1-seeded Williams, who won the 2002 French Open, to face No. 4 Jelena Jankovic in the semi-finals. No. 2 Venus Williams could meet No. 5 Elena Dementieva in the quarter-finals and defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-finals.

"It's a strange feeling, but it's very good to be back at the French Open," Henin said. "I mean, when we were driving last night to Paris and then this morning to the site with my tennis bag, it's just great. ... A lot of great memories are coming back and a lot of emotions."

The most intriguing first-round match-up is in the men's field, where No. 4 Andy Murray will take on Richard Gasquet, a Frenchman who once reached the Wimbledon semi-finals and used to be ranked in the top 10, but was suspended for part of last season after testing positive for cocaine.

"He's definitely one of the best players that's not seeded," Murray said. "I'm going to have to play very well to beat him."

wild card

Defending champion and top-seeded Roger Federer plays 71st-ranked Peter Luczak of Australia in the first round, while four-time champion Rafael Nadal was drawn to begin against 18-year-old Gianni Mina of France, who made his tour-level debut this week and so is only ranked 653rd. Mina got into the field, thanks to a wild card from the French tennis federation.

"I don't know him," Nadal said. "Can't say a lot.

Nevertheless, Nadal will be a heavy favourite in that match, of course, and also is considered the man to beat at the tournament, which begins tomorrow. His 31-match winning streak at Roland Garros ended with a fourth-round loss to Robin Soderling last year. Soderling could be Federer's quarter-final foe this year, in what would be a rematch of the 2009 final. The other possible men's quarter-finals are Nadal vs No. 7 Fernando Verdasco; No. 3 Novak Djokovic vs No. 6 Andy Roddick; and Murray vs No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Mario Ancic of Croatia withdrew from the tournament yesterday.

Both Williams sisters will start off against Swiss opponents in the first round: Venus takes on Patty Schnyder, a former top-10 player and two-time French Open quarter-finalist now ranked 61st; Serena plays Stefanie Voegele, who is ranked 76th and has a career record of 2-4 at Grand Slam tournaments. Voegele never has faced the younger Williams; Schnyder is 0-10 against the older one.