A former Roland Garros champion and the American No. 2 highlight women’s action as the first round of the French Open continues on Monday.

Maria Sharapova vs. Ksenia Pervak

As Day 2 dawns on Court Philippe Chatrier, it will be Maria Sharapova who has the honor of kicking off play.  Similar to Serena Williams on Day 1, Sharapova needs to use this match to send a signal to her fellow competitors that she is ready to win her second title in Paris.

Sharapova has plenty of reason to feel confident going into her match against fellow Russian Ksenia Pervak.  She won titles in both Stuttgart and Madrid before arriving at Roland Garros, and she has far more experience and accolades than qualifier Pervak, who is currently ranked outside the top 150.  Sharapova won the only meeting between these two, which coincidentally came in the first round at this event back in 2010.

The game styles employed by the two women should have Sharapova feeling good about her opportunity to advance.  Both are baseliners, which means that outside of any nifty left-handed angles, Pervak is unlikely to throw too many surprises at Sharapova to take her out of her rhythm.  Additionally, Sharapova is one of the most powerful ball-strikers in the women’s game, so the chances of her being able to bully Pervak into doing most of the running look promising. 

The odds are stacked against the younger Russian, but if she plays within herself and competes well, she might have an outside chance of pulling off the upset.  She has done well on the ITF Circuit this year, and emerging from the qualifying to make the main draw at Roland Garros breeds its own kind of confidence.  Furthermore, if Pervak has done her homework, she should know that Sharapova did not win those two titles in Stuttgart and Madrid without difficulty.  Sharapova was broken frequently in Stuttgart, often got off to slow starts in her matches, and has occasionally struggled to close out sets  If Pervak can hang with her early, things might get interesting.

All of that said, this match is still Sharapova’s to win or lose.  She has reached the final here in each of the last two years, including a title run in 2012.  Her match against Pervak should just be the first routine step towards trying to secure a second crown here.  Whether or not it turns out that way depends on her as Sharapova looks to get her 2014 Roland Garros campaign off on the right foot.

Sloane Stephens vs. Peng Shuai

As play draws to a close on Monday at Roland Garros, American Sloane Stephens will take on Peng Shuai of China for a spot in the second round.  Do not be fooled by the fact that this is an opening-round match, however, since for Sloane Stephens it could be huge.

It is a sign of just how far Stephens’ star has fallen that she barely garners headlines anymore, and unfortunately on those occasions when she does, it is often for yet another early tournament loss.  She has had very little to celebrate coming into Paris.  Since losing 6-1, 6-0 to Caroline Wozniacki in Miami, Stephens has gone on to win only three matches in her last five tournaments.  She could not be more lacking in confidence right now, and she will have to contend with the pressure of knowing she has fourth-round points to defend at Roland Garros.

The good news for Stephens is that her opponent, Peng, has also endured more than her share of troubling results thus far this season.  She started off the year well by making the final of Shenzhen in her native China, but there has been nothing to inspire belief of late.  Similar to Stephens, Peng has only managed to wrangle six match wins in her last six tournaments, and she comes in knowing that Roland Garros has historically been her worst major.

But Peng has some history on her side.  Despite the fact that Stephens enjoys the higher ranking, it is Peng who has walked away with the victory on the two previous times that these two have met.  Both meetings also occurred on clay, and Stephens was never able to take more than three games off Peng in any set. 

If Stephens hopes to enjoy a little more success in this third encounter with Peng, she is going to have to focus on being more aggressive.  Stephens holds the edge in the mobility department, but she cannot afford to become too passive, especially on the slow red clay.  If she does, Peng will be all too happy to employ her forehand – her favorite shot – to dictate play.  There is no excuse for that, considering that Stephens can generate more than enough pop off of both wings to control her share of the points over the course of the match.

In the end, however, this match is unlikely to come down to x’s and o’s and rather more about who can mentally tough out the victory.  That puts Peng in a prime position to pick off a seed in Stephens and advance to the second round.  For Stephens, this match is all about stopping the bleeding.  A victory could be the start of a turnaround.  A defeat could be damaging for the remainder of her season.  Either way, this could be one entertaining albeit potentially ugly first-round contest.