The battle really gets started on Monday, the second day of play at the French Open. Women's number one Dinara Safina, men's number one Rafael Nadal and number two Roger Federer should all sail through their first matches on the central court Philippe-Chatrier from 11 am (GMT+2).

Maria Sharapova will be making her big comeback on court one, in a match against Anastasiya Yakimova, of Belarus.

On the Suzanne Lenglen court, the third-ranked woman, American Venus Williams, will be playing her compatriot Bethanie Mattek-Sands (number 38) earlier in the day. The match will be followed, if time allows, by Andy Roddick (number six) against new French hope Romain Jouan.

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Also from France, after winning at Strasbourg on Saturday, Aravane Rezai (ranked 38) will be starting her Roland Garros bid in a match against the Japanese Ai Sugiyama (ranked 33).

It will be all-French contests for Marion Bartoli (13) against Pauline Parmentier (77) on the central court, and Paul-Henri Mathieu (39) against Laurent Recouderc (154). Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (97) meets Chinese Jie Zheng, ranked 17.

Nicolas Devilder (61) will have a tough match on his hands against the Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka (ranked 17), who beat Roger Federer at Monte Carlo.

Guillaume Rufin, Camille Pin, Kinnie Laisne and Irean Pavlovic will also be on court.