By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, May 28, 2015

 

Reigning champion Maria Sharapova faces 2010 finalist Samantha Stosur for the second straight year.

Photo credit: Roland Garros

On each day of the French Open we will provide you with notes on three matches to watch, plus notes and numbers to keep you well-equipped for the day ahead.

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(2) Maria Sharapova (RUS) vs. (26) Samantha Stosur (AUS), Third match on Court Philippe-Chatrier

Grand Slam champions with disparate styles meet for the second straight year in Paris. The flatter-hitting Sharapova has torched Stosur's weaker backhand wing in their prior meetings. The reigning champion owns a 14-2 record against Stosur, including a 4-0 mark on clay.

Stosur tuned up for Paris winning Strasbourg. The 2010 finalist rides a six-match winning streak into this match. Stosur's biting kick serve and heavy topspin forehands are both weapons, though the 6-foot-2 Sharapova has handled the high ball well in their past meetings.

(21) Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs. (13) Gael Monfils (FRA), Fourth match on Court Suzanna Lenglen

A 2008 Roland Garros doubles champion, Cuevas has earned 16 of his 18 wins on clay this season. He captured his third career title in Sao Paulo, lost to Roger Federer in the Istanbul final and partnered David Marrero to win the Rome doubles title earlier this month.

The acrobatic Monfils rallied for a five-set win over Diego Schwartzman in round two — his 100th career clay-court victory. Five of Monfils's last 10 Roland Garros matches have gone the distance. Monfils is 9-3 lifetime in French Open five-setters; Cuevas is 3-6 overall in five-setters. Look for the 2008 semifinalist to use his most reliable stroke—the two-handed backhand—to challenge Cuevas's one-hander.

(8) Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) vs. (28) Flavia Pennetta (ITA), Fifth match on Court Suzanna Lenglen

Two-time quarterfinalist Suarez Navarro leads the WTA in victories (33), carries the confidence from reaching the Rome final and figures to be fresh as she only played 10 games in round two before French wild card Virginie Razzano retired.

Though Pennetta has failed to survive the third round in five of the last six years and did not win a set in either Madrid or Rome, the former doubles world No. 1 is a smart, resourceful competitor. Pennetta has hard-court wins over former Grand Slam champions Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Samantha Stosur this season and has won four of six meetings with Suarez Navarro. The backhand exchanges could be crucial in this match, Pennetta has hit her two-handed backhand down the line effectively in her prior wins over the Spaniard.

If Suarez Navarro prevails and 21st-seeded Garbine Muguruza upsets No. 11 seed Angelique Kerber, it would set up an all-Spanish round of 16 clash between friends and doubles partners.

By the Numbers

2 Number of former French Open boys' champions in action on Friday (Gael Monfils and Stan Wawrinka).

5 Number of German women to reach the third round —Angelique Kerber, Annika Beck, Sabine Lisicki, Andrea Petkovic and Julia Goerges —the most in 21 years.

13 Number of French Open fourth-round appearances Roger Federer will have if he beats Damir Dzumhur on Friday. Federer owns the Open Era record for most Roland Garros round of 16 appearances.

27 Number of years since a former French Open boys' champion won the men's title (Mats Wilander in 1988).

165 Ranking of Donna Vekic, the lowest-ranked woman to reach the third round, who faces 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic.

52-10 Maria Sharapova's Roland Garros record—the best winning percentage of any active woman.