While the world No. 1 faces a two-time major champion in the third round of Roland Garros, one of last year's semifinalists meets a former French Open runner-up. 

Serena Williams vs. Victoria Azarenka

From the moment the draw was released, Serena Williams taking on Victoria Azarenka became one of the most talked-about potential matches.  Both women have held up their ends of the bargain to reach this point and set up a duel worthy of the second week.  Unfortunately for one of them, her journey towards the 2015 Roland Garros crown will be cut short.

Of the two, most would favor Williams to continue on her quest for a third Roland Garros title.  With 18 majors in singles play alone, she is the most decorated active player on tour and a heavy favorite in any tournament that she enters.  She has also been extremely dominant this season.  Other players have been able to push her, but it took an exceptional display of tennis from Petra Kvitova in the semifinals of Madrid to hand Williams her first loss of 2015.  Between all of her past accomplishments and momentum built this season, it is easy to see why so many look at Williams as the likely victor in this contest.

But while Williams is seen as the likely victor, Azarenka is considered to be one of the handful of players who can possibly challenge her on a regular basis.  The former No. 1 may not have a résumé that is as impressive as Williams's, but she has compiled a stellar record of her own.  She has twice been the champion at the Australian Open and has performed well at the other majors, particularly the US Open where she has been a finalist twice.  Furthermore, the Belorussian clipped the current No. 1 on two occasions in 2013, and prior to foot issues sidelining her for the majority of 2014, Azarenka filled the role of the closest thing that Williams had to a rival.

It is not surprising that few have been able to rival Williams in recent years.  The American has a tremendous amount of power and the greatest serve in the history of the women's game.  When she is able to harness that power to play with consistency and create angles, she is nearly impossible to beat.  So if Williams is firing on all cylinders, the onus will be on Azarenka to red-line her own game.  But Azarenka has enjoyed doing exactly that in the past.  She has enough firepower of her own to hold her ground against the American, and her ability to hit the ball consistently deep and pull the trigger when the opportunity arises has brought her success in this matchup.  She is going to need to put in a high percentage of first serves on Saturday, though, and ensure that her forehand – the shot that can go off – remains steady under pressure if she hopes to garner the upset.

Another key piece to Azarenka finding her way across the finish line against Williams is her self-belief, and she may potentially have enough to get the job done when she plays Williams on Saturday.  Azarenka has looked the far sharper of the pair through the first two rounds, and she held match points against the top seed a few weeks ago in Madrid.  And though clay is not Azarenka's preferred surface, it is also the worst one for Williams.  From Williams's standpoint, she did look shaky in the last round, and she probably does have some lingering doubts after getting knocked out in the second round here last year and the first round three years ago.  That said, Williams was the champion in Paris in 2013, she has a dominant win-loss record against Azarenka, she has been nearly untouchable in 2015, and she has an uncanny ability to flip the switch when she takes to the court against an opponent she knows is dangerous.

If the two women can conjure a match of equal quality to what they did in Madrid, the fans will come out winners.   

Andrea Petkovic vs. Sara Errani

Week 1 of Roland Garros has seen a number of seeds fall by the wayside.  But as is often the case, their loss is another player's gain.  Andrea Petkovic and Sara Errani are two of the remaining seeds in the top half of the women's draw, and they will square off on Saturday for the chance to further take advantage of what is becoming an increasingly open field.

Petkovic and Errani actually enter this match sharing many similarities, starting with their desire to continue rebuilding their respective rankings with a good showing in Paris.  A few years ago, Petkovic looked like a relatively sure bet to stay in the top 10 and regularly vie for the sport's biggest titles.  A litany of injuries quickly derailed her career, but she has done well to claw her way back towards the top. One of the brightest moments in her comeback thus far came at this venue last year when she reached the semifinal of a major for the first time.  No doubt the German is going to be eager to match or better that result this season.

The issue for Petkovic is that Errani is going to be just as hungry to do the same.  The Italian is one of the smallest competitors on tour, but she has not allowed that to deter her march towards success.  Her court craft, guile, and tenacity buoyed her to a finalist appearance at Roland Garros and a semifinal run at the US Open in 2012, and she continued to build on those stellar results to achieve a career-high ranking of No. 5 a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately for her, she went on a bit of a slide throughout 2014, but she is once again back on track and playing winning tennis.

With both women beginning to tap into their best form, this could be an entertaining duel.  What makes it even more interesting is that they both take to the court looking to do a lot of the same things.  Each woman claims clay as her favorite surface, and they both list their favorite shot as the forehand.  Petkovic definitely has the larger frame, so she is apt to get more leverage with her groundstrokes, including the forehand, and she should enjoy a decisive edge on the serve.  Errani knows that Petkovic will not have all of the advantages, however.  The 17th seed is the quicker mover of the two, and she is one of the best in the business when it comes to getting the job done at net.  It is imperative that she look to move forward as much as possible to take time away from Petkovic and keep the German off balance, because unless the No. 10 seed is off her game, a slugfest is not likely to go the way of the Italian.

There is no guarantee that either woman will be off her game either, since they both have reason to feel confident.  Petkovic does hold the edge in their rivalry at 2-1, and their most recent meeting came at Roland Garros last year and was won easily by the German.  Of course, as the higher seed, Petkovic has to deal with the pressure of being the one expected to get through, and she is also the one defending more points.   Errani is skilled and accomplished enough to take advantage if the German shows any signs of weakness.  She is also crafty enough to plant seeds of doubt in Petkovic's mind with her own level of play.

Unquestionably, at least on paper, this is a pretty even match. Petkovic and Errani are two women looking to do very similar things out there, so this one is going to come down to who can most consistently use her strengths and defend her weaknesses.  Odds favor Petkovic to get through, since she is physically better suited to employ her game plan and control a greater percentage of what is happening on court, but it could be tight.