Roland-Garros 2012 French Open Draw - Women's Singles

05/25, 12.45 PM Paris: Six-time French Open titlist and defending men's champion Rafael Nadal was on-hand to conduct the women's singles draw for this year's Roland-Garros 2012 French Open. Of special interest was to understand how the draw would play out for Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, the two leading players in this year's clay court season. As it turns out, they were unfortunately drawn in the same quarter. The potential quarterfinal match-ups would be (1) Victoria Azarenka vs (6) Sam Stosur; (8) Marion Bartoli vs (3) Agnieszka Radwanska; (7) Li Na vs (4) Petra Kvitova; and (5) Serena Williams vs (2) Maria Sharapova. Click here for the full 2012 French Open women's singles draw.

05/25, 8AM Paris: The draw for Roland Garros 2012 French Open women's singles tournament will be announced today, Friday, May 25. There are intriguing story lines going into the French Open this year - the second Grand Slam of the year. Earlier in the season, newly ascended world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka won four straight tournaments on her way to an impressive 26-match win streak to start the year. However, she will be going into the second major of the year not as the intimidating favorite as she would probably like to be, not even among the top two favorites, but, there's no denying that she'll be one of the few players capable of winning this year's French Open.

Based on clay court results in the past two months, Azarenka would be rated a bit behind two former no. 1 players in Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams. Sharapova and Serena won the Charleston, Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome tournaments - splitting the four between the two of them. These four clay court events are the biggest tune-up tournaments before the Roland Garros major. Azarenka did reach the finals in both Stuttgart and Madrid, but she was beaten badly by Sharapova (in Stuttgart) and Serena (in Madrid).

Between Serena and Sharapova, they met once in this year's clay court season with Serena handling Sharapova a 61 63 thrashing in the quarterfinals of Madrid. Serena failed to challenge Sharapova however, at the Rome tournament, pulling out in the last minute prior to her semifinal against defending champion Na Li. She cited back pain as her reason for withdrawal causing some concern amongst Serena's fans. It most likely be a precautionary action ahead of the French Open, as Serena has indicated time and again that she was intent on adding to her lone French Open trophy which she won in 2002.

The question would be - where would Serena be placed in the women's singles draw? As Serena is seeded fifth, she could be drawn to meet either Sharapova or Azarenka as early in the quarterfinals. Here's to hoping that won't happen. It would be good to have a Serena - Azarenka semi-final, and then a Serena - Sharapova final. Watch out for the women's singles draw later in the day today to see what the potential quarterfinal, semifinal and final matches would be.

Roland Garros 2012 French Open - WTA Women's Top 32 Seeds
1. Victoria Azarenka(BLR)
2. Maria Sharapova(RUS)
3. Agnieszka Radwanska(POL)
4. Petra Kvitova(CZE)
5. Serena Williams(USA)
6. Samantha Stosur(AUS)
7. Na Li(CHN)
8. Marion Bartoli(FRA)
9. Caroline Wozniacki(DEN)
10. Angelique Kerber(GER)
11. Vera Zvonareva(RUS)
12. Sabine Lisicki(GER)
13. Ana Ivanovic(SRB)
14. Francesca Schiavone(ITA)
15. Andrea Petkovic(GER)
16. Dominika Cibulkova(SVK)
17. Maria Kirilenko(RUS)
18. Daniela Hantuchova(SVK)
19. Roberta Vinci(ITA)
20. Flavia Pennetta(ITA)
21. Jelena Jankovic(SRB)
22. Lucie Safarova(CZE)
23. Sara Errani(ITA)
24. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(RUS)
25. Kaia Kanepi(EST)
26. Petra Cetkovska(CZE)
27. Julia Goerges(GER)
28. Svetlana Kuznetsova(RUS)
29. Nadia Petrova(RUS)
30. Shuai Peng(CHN)
31. A. Medina Garrigues(ESP)
32. Mona Barthel(GER)

Come back soon for updates on Roland Garros 2012 French Open women's singles draw.