FRENCH OPEN: Quarterfinal Predictions

Amélie Mauresmo FRA (1) vs. Venus Williams USA (11). Venus has looked shaky early but has yet to drop a set. She played smart against a dangerous, powerful opponent Karolina Sprem in her 3rd round match. She plays tricky lefty Patty Schnyder (7) in her fourth round match but has never lost to the wily Swiss. Mauresmo has another difficult assignment with the hard-hitting youngster Nicole Vaidisova who is a younger, Czech player modeled after Sharapova. Mauresmo is the first French player to be seeded #1 at her country's major championship in over 30 years and after winning the Australian Open title earlier in the year has seemingly calmed the butterflies which have caused her to underperform at this tournament in the past. Venus leads their head-to-head 5-4, but they have never played on clay (Venus defaulted the 2004 German Open final due to an injury) and Mauresmo has won the last three times they have played. PREDICTION: Mauresmo in 3 sets.

Maria Sharapova RUS (4) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (8) . Kuznetsova made noise earlier in this season by beating Sharapova 6-4, 6-3 in the NASDAQ-100 Open final on hard courts in March to win the "fifth major." Sharapova is slightly injured, but as she demonstrated in Australia, her will to win and powerful serve and grounstrokes can get her deep into the draw of a major tournament. It's doubtful that will be enough for her to outlast someone who Martina Navratilova called "the most talented" of the Russians. PREDICTION: Kuznetsova in 3 sets.

Anna-Marie Groenefeld GER (13) vs. Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL (5). The odious Justine is the defending champion and will easily get into the semi-final over either Groenefeld or Gisela Dulko. PREDICTION: Henin-Hardenne in 2 sets.

Kim Clijsters BEL (2) vs. Martina Hingis SUI (12) . This is a reprise of the Australian Open quarterfinal which was won by Clijsters, who at one point was simply overpowering "Chucky." It's not clear if Hingis has managed to come up with a solution to the "big babe tennis" dilemma since then, but she did show by winning the Italian Open two weeks ago (defeating Venus Williams in three sets after losing the first seven games in a row) PREDICTION: This is really a toss-up, but I'll say Clijsters in 3 sets.