Our series of WTA previews for the 2015 French Open starts with two all-Eastern European matchups on Sunday. Not many upsets happen in the first round, but both unseeded players in these matches have the ability to play well above the level of their rankings.

Lucie Safarova versus Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Once a major is underway, all eyes are on the favorites.  Fans and analysts are eager to gauge their form and further speculate on their odds of making a title run.  As a result of this focus, other players fall under the radar. It is also how possibly intriguing early encounters that could produce potential pitfalls for the favorites get missed.  Such a scenario may be in place in the battle featuring Lucie Safarova and Anastasia Pavyluchenkova.

Safarova and Pavyluchenkova are not household names for the mainstream sports audience, but devoted tennis fans know that these are two women capable of playing great tennis.  Safarova is presently ranked No. 13 and was as high as No. 11 earlier this year.  She has had some big wins in her career and been just on the cusp of others.  She broke new ground in 2014 with her trip to the semifinals of Wimbledon, and she has twice reached the second week of Roland Garros, including last year.  Conventional wisdom may not see Safarova going far in Paris, but she is certainly capable of defying that logic.

The same can be said of Pavlyuchenkova.  Four years ago, she was knocking on the door to the top 10, with many touting her as one of the sport’s future stars.  That prediction has not come to fruition thus far, but the Russian comes in ranked a respectable No. 38 with seven titles to her name.  In addition to her quarterfinal appearance here in 2011, she also enters this match having never failed to get out of the opening round of Roland Garros, so she will feel optimistic about her chances of continuing that streak.

While Pavlyuchenkova has reason to feel confident of making the second round, it will not necessarily be easy.  Both women list clay as their preferred surface and possess similar playing styles and levels of firepower.  Not surprisingly, only one of their matches has failed to go the distance.  But as even as their past matches have been, it is the Russian who holds the decisive edge, having won four out of the five times that they have met.  That said, none of those encounters came on clay, and their most recent battle occurred four years ago.  Furthermore, Safarova is the higher-ranked of the pair, played slightly better on the dirt heading into Paris, and has a title under her belt this season.  Assuming she can put her past history with Pavlyuchenkova behind her, Safarova should feel good about her own chances of emerging with a victory.

The victor will be the woman who is able to get her opponent on the move first and copes better mentally in the big moments.  History suggests this could be another enthralling, tight encounter with the winner as someone to watch going forward.

Ana Ivanovic versus Yaroslava Shvedova

It is often said that climbing to the upper echelons in tennis is hard.  Maintaining that position, though, is even harder.  That is a harsh lesson that Ana Ivanovic knows well.  She has seen the highs and the lows, and after working her way back into the top 10, she is going to be especially keen to stay there this time.  She can take a step towards doing that by getting her Roland Garros campaign off to the right start with a victory over Yaroslava Shvedova.

Ivanovic loves all playing surfaces, but if there were only a handful of tournaments where she might be capable of flipping a switch and playing her best tennis, one of them would be right here at Roland Garros.  She has been to the quarterfinals or better at all four majors, but it is in Paris where she has reached the final twice, winning this prestigious event in 2008.  She has enough firepower to hit through the court, and she can be particularly devastating off the forehand wing. With her height, she is apt to be more helped than hindered by the way the ball sits up on the clay, and after collecting some big wins over the course of the last 12 months, she enters this match knowing she is capable of holding her own with anybody.

Of course, an argument could be made that Ivanovic's opponent, Shvedova, possibly feels the same.  Currently representing Kazakhstan, Shvedova is probably best known for winning a golden set (not losing a point throughout the set) against Sara Errani at Wimbledon in 2012. But there is more to her than that.  Three years ago, she was ranked as high as No. 25 in singles and an impressive No. 4 in doubles before injuries slowly began to derail her career.  Consequently, she comes into Roland Garros ranked outside the top 60, with her run to the final of Bogota last month as the only bright spot of her season thus far. 

Like Ivanovic, however, Paris is where Safarova will like her chances of turning it around.  Clay is her favorite surface, and with two quarterfinal appearances, Roland Garros has been her most successful major.  She has made it out of the first round here the last three years, and she will be looking to make it four in a row.

Ivanovic’s forehand is the biggest weapon in this match, and she will need to use it to open up the court and get Shvedova on the run to set up easy winners.  Shvedova will be looking to do much the same to Ivanovic, but her best bet to do that is to find a way to get to the forecourt and use her superior skills at the net to take time away from the Serb.  The biggest factor in this match, however, will be who mentally is up to the task.  Ivanovic started 2015 brightly with a run to the finals of Brisbane, but she has been inconsistent ever since.  She lost her opener at the Australian Open and fell in her first match in two of the three tune-up events she played coming into Roland Garros.  Granted, Shvedova has not fared much better.  She lost in the qualifying of Madrid, and her only other clay event this spring was the small-tier WTA event in Bogota.  That said, she has emerged victorious in one of her two prior meetings with Ivanovic, and all of the pressure is squarely on the shoulders of the Serb.

In the end, this could be a much closer match than the nearly 50 places between their rankings would suggest.  Both women are looking to get their seasons going again, and that turnaround could begin right here in the first round of Roland Garros.  The edge has to go to Ivanovic, but there is no question that there is the potential for an early upset.