Reshuffled French Open offers a dodgy assortment of remaining contenders

Photo credit: Game Face

Top-ranked Dinara Safina of Russia has dominated her competition at the French Open so far, losing only five games in four matches. She plays ninth-ranked Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

By Max J. Dickstein

With several title contenders and both defending champions eliminated at Roland Garros in recent days, only a handful of the 16 men and women remaining appear able to win the French Open.

Here's a look at a few players who are most likely to take the 2009 French Open singles titles:

From runner-up to front-runner: Roger Federer

Ravenous for his first title in Paris, Roger Federer has won 13 Grand Slams; no one else still in the men’s field even has one.

Federer's difficult keeping his game sharp mounted during the first four rounds. He has already dropped four sets — including the first two against Tommy Haas on Monday — as he prepares to face Gael Monfils in their quarterfinal match on Wednesday.

The flipside is that Federer's emotional investment in this tournament has escalated since Rafael Nadal's loss and his various escapes against early-round competition. The circumstances make him the favorite, if an enigmatic one. The Swiss maestro is both the premier player left in the draw and the competitor saddled with the heaviest doubts.Dueling at the top: Serena Williams, Dinara Safina

Second-seeded Serena Williams is tightening her grip on a third consecutive Grand Slam title. On Monday, she easily saw off 11th-ranked Alexandra Wozniak 6-2, 6-1. If we're being real here, Williams is the true No. 1.

Serena and Venus Williams have accounted for 17 Grand Slam titles, three since last summer at Wimbledon. Venus, an early-round upset victim on this trip to Roland Garros, is Serena's doubles partner and, during singles matches, Serena's constant supporter in the Roland Garros stands. Venus, as Serena avows, is the gracious and kind half of their sisterhood. Serena can seem harsh and even undeserving in her public comments, which rarely include credit for an opponents. Recently, she declared that she, not Safina, is the true No. 1 in women's tennis. But Serena's brashness speaks for her undiminished big-time game, which makes her the favorite to win this, and any, Grand Slam tournament.

Top-ranked Safina has one Grand Slam final and no major titles to her credit, but her consistent, elite results that crowned her as the latest women's player to gain the No. 1 ranking. The 2008 French Open finalist, and Marat Safin's 23-year-old sister, could consolidate her No. 1 ranking and status in the Safin family with a winning weekend.

Troublemakers: Andy Murray and Gael Monfils

Between these two young athletes, third-ranked Murray is the superior player. The Scotsman is an all-court tactician who will contend at majors deep into the future. But Monfils is the player of the moment.

The 22-year-old Frenchman demolished Andy Roddick in three blink-of-an-eye sets on Monday, finding winners everywhere he moved. His maniacal speed toward completing the match as night fell on Monday was comical, inconsiderate and scary, all at once. Monfils' switch to a powerful and forgiving Prince EXO3 Rebel 95 racket recently could help push him past Wilson devotee Federer on Wednesday. But Federer will perhaps be his undoing, having beaten Monfils in four sets in last year's French Open semifinals.

Murray plays with the lilting force of an album by Mogwai, a Scottish mood-rock group. Murray has owned Federer (4-0, but never winning in straight sets) since their meeting in Murray's maiden Grand Slam final last September, when Federer outclassed him in straight sets at the U.S. Open. To reach his second major final, where the 22-year-old Murray may be tapped as the favorite, he must emerge from Nadal's bracket. First up is the bold but beatable Chilean striker, Fernando Gonzalez.

Dream runners: Maria Sharapova and Robin Soderling

She is playing her first Grand Slam in a year and has no expectations for herself. He shocked the world by breaking down four-time champion Rafael Nadal. Neither of them seem likely to win a sixth or seventh match in this fortnight.

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