Ashleigh Barty: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

Ashleigh Barty of Australia, currently ranked #183 in the world, defeated Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, 75 26 61, #87 in the world, in the first round of the 2013 French Open.  She will next meet Maria Kirilenko of Russia, #12 in the world in the second round.

Dinah Pfizenmaier: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

German Dinah Pfizenmaier, ranked #127, gets to the third round of the 2013 French Open.  In the first round, she defeated Mindy Minella of Luxembourg (#76), 75 61.  Then, in the second round, she routed Poland's Urszula Radwanska, 63 63.  She will now meet the other Radwanska sister, Agnieszka (#4), in the third round.

Mariana Duque Marino: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

Mariana Duque Marino, currently ranked #162, defeated Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic (#102) in the first round of the 2013 French Open.  She will next meet Marion Bartoli in the second round.

Federico Delbonis: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

Federico Delbonis of Argentina, currently ranked #125, reached the second round of the 2013 French Open, defeating Julian Reister of Germany (#150). He will next meet Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.

Jack Sock: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

Jack Sock of the USA, currently ranked #118 in the world, defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (#79) in the first round of this year's French Open. He is slated to meet Tommy Haas in the second round.

Lucas Pouille: Breakout Player French Open 2013

Lucas Pouille of France, currently ranked #310 in the world, gets to the second round of the French Open this year, as he defeated Alex Kuznetsov (#171) in the first round.  He lost to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (#26) in the second round, 16 67(4) 16.

Vania King: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

Vania King reached the second round of this year's French Open as she defeated Alexandra Cadantu of Romania.  Currently ranked #128, Vania went as high as #50 in 2006 and has reached the third round of this grand slam in 2011.  She will next meet fellow American Sloane Stephens.

Paula Ormaechea: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Third Round of the 2013 French Open

Paula Ormaechea of Argentina, currently ranked #118, gets to the third round of the 2013 French Open for the first time ever..  She defeated German Tatjana Maria (#104) 63 46 60 in the first round then went on to upset Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan (#31) 64 76(6) in the second round.  She will next meet Bethanie Mattek Sands (#67) of the US in the third round.

Shelby Rogers: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

Shelby Rogers of the US, currently ranked #170, gets to her very first second round appearance in the French Open, as she defeated Frenchwoman Irena Pavlovic (#175).  She will next meet Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round.

Virginie Razzano: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Third Round of the 2013 French Open

Virginie Razzano of France, currently ranked #178, and the woman who famously took out Serena Williams in the first round of the French Open last year, gets to the third round of the French Open.  She defeated a far less fancied player, her compatriot 64, Claire Feuerstein in the first round, 76(6).  In the second round, she edged Slovakian Zuzana Kucova, 46 62 60, ranked 1127 in the world.  Her best performance here was in 2009 when she reached the fourth round.

She will next meet former French Open champion, Ana Ivanovic (#14) in the third round.

Zuzana Kucova: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

Zuzana Kucova of Slovakia, currently ranked #1152 in the world, gets to the second round of the 2013 French Open as she defeated German, Julia Goerges (#28).  It's her second appearance in the main draw of the French Open and her best performance yet. She will next meet Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano.

Galina Voskoboeva: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan, currently ranked #123 in the world, reached the second round of the 2013 French Open, as she defeated Grace Min of the US (#209).  This is her third appearance in the second round.  She was also here in 2008 and 2009.  Her next opponent is Roberta Vinci of Italy.

Caroline Garcia: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

Caroline Garcia of France is currently ranked #114 in the world today yet she enters the second round of the 2013 French Open.  She also reached this level in 2011.  This time, she defeated Yuliya Beygelzimer of the Ukraine, ranked #205, in the first round. She will next meet Serena Williams in the second round.

Nick Kyrgios: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of 2013 French Open

Nick Kyrgios of Australia, currently ranked at #262, made a splashing debut in this year's French Open as he defeated veteran Radek Stepanek (#52) in the first round.  He will next meet Marin Cilic (#11) of Croatia in the second round.

Joao Sousa: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the French Open 2013

Joao Sousa of Portugal, currently ranked #119, gets to the second round of this year's French Open for the first time in his career, as he defeated Go Soeda of Japan (#124).  He will next meet Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

Blaz Kavcic: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the 2013 French Open

Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia, currently ranked #104, reaches the second round of the 2013 French Open for the fourth year in a row.  This year, he defeated James Duckworth of Australia in the first round, currently ranked #185 in the world.

Michal Przysiezny: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the French Open 2013

Michal Przysiezny of Poland gets to the second round of the French Open 2013 for the first time in his career.  He won over American Rhyne Williams (#121).  Michal is currently at #133.  He reached a career high of #76 in 2010.

Somdev Devvarman: Player Ranked Outside the Top 100 Who Reached the Second Round of the French Open 2013

Indian player Somdev Devvarman, currently ranked #188, defeated Daniel Munoz de la Nava of Spain, currently ranked #145, to get to the second round of Roland Garros.  This is his best performance yet in Roland Garros, falling in the first round of 2010 and 2011.

French Open 2013: Interesting First Round Match Ups - Jelena Jankovic vs. Daniela Hantuchova

Jelena Jankovic and Daniela Hantuchova are two of my most favorite women's players and to see them play in the first round is an interesting match up for me.  Daniela hasn't been doing well laterly so Jelena is the favorite here.  But like life, well, you never know what happens till everything is over.  I will be cheering for both though!

French Open 2013: Interesting First Round Match-ups - Camila Giorgi vs. Peng Shuai

I love how Peng Shuai plays and I've also heard a lot of buzz about Italian player Camila Giorgi.  In a way, Peng is already a veteran so it would be interesting to see how she manages to ward off the strong groundstrokes of the newbie Italian player.

French Open 2013: Li Na On Track to Another Grand Slam Title

Li Na has been performing well this past few months.  She reached the finals of the Australian Open and with her strong credentials here in the French Open, including a former title, makes her my pick to get the semifinal slot in her side of the draw.  Victoria Azarenka is ranked higher than her but Vika's clay record is not as strong as that of Li Na.  Li Na's first true test is in the first round where she meets Anabel Medina Garrigues, one of the most successful clay courters in women's tennis history.  Her other potential opponents include Yaroslava Shvedova, Maria Kirilenko and Victoria Azarenka.

French Open 2013: Interesting First Round Matches - Li Na vs. Anabel Medina Garrigues

Anabel Medina Garrigues is one of the winningest players on clay while Li Na is a former French Open champion.  It's a pity they'd have to meet in the first round but since Anabel is already a veteran player.  However, it would be a treat to see how the two would use all the aces on their sleeves to outplay and beat each other.

French Open 2013: Errani Might Make Another Good Showing

Sara Errani is in a very competitive part of the draw, but this being the French Open and the surface is clay, I believe she is still the strongest player on her side of the draw who can get the semifinal slot.  Agnieszka Radwanska is on her side of the draw but in my opinion, Sara's potential opponents include Ayumi Morita, Sabine Lisicki, Nadia Petrova and former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic in the quarters.  Let's see how Sara deals with all the pressure.

French Open 2013: Interesting First Round Matches - Sara Errani vs. Arantxa Rus

I love the way Arantxa Rus plays so I am surprised how come she hasn't really reached the upper rungs of the tour rankings.  Anyway, she will meet last year's finalist Sara Errani in the first round of this year's French Open.  I find that an interesting match up since I want to see how Arantxa uses her skills to throw off the wily Italian. 

French Open 2013: Who's Going for Serena's Scalp?

It's never easy defeating Serena Williams but it is possible even in a Grand Slam stage.  In the last Australian Open, Sloane Stephens did just that so she was able to get to her very first grand slam semifinal.  Looking at Serena's side of the draw, there are some tricky and talented players.  Her most likely opponents that have a chance of tripping her up are Caroline Garcia, Monica Niculescu, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Angelique Kerber - all capable of doing well on clay.

Anyhow, Serena still looks very dominant in the past clay tournaments this year, and is the heavy favorite to get the semifinal slot of her side of the draw.

French Open 2013: Federer Express Expected Again in the Semi's

Roger Federer gets Jo-Wilfried Tsonga again on his side of the draw, but, this is the French Open, and most French players, do not really perform well in front of their home crowd. I don't even expect Tsonga to reach the quarterfinals.  I pick Juan Monaco instead to meet Roger Federer in the quarters.  Roger may have two possible French opponents as well before he reaches the semis, Julien Bennetteau and Gilles Simon.  Otherwise, he should be able to reach the semifinals of his side of the draw, without much problem.

French Open 2013: David Ferrer May Make It Into Another Grand Slam Semifinal

With Andy Murray sidelined with an injury, David Ferrer enters the top 4 seeds again on the men's side for the second consecutive time.  Earlier this year, in the Australian Open, with Rafael Nadal on the sideline, he was able to parlay it into a semifinal appearance there.  With clay being his strongest surface, he may likely duplicate that feat in this year's French Open.

He has a relatively tough draw and potential opponents include fellow Spanish players Marcel Granollers and Albert Montanes, and Canadian Milos Raonic and for the quarterfinals, possible clash with another fellow Spanish player, Nicolas Almagro.

However, I pick David to get the semifinal slot in his side of the draw.  Vamos David!

French Open 2013: Analyzing Rafael Nadal's Side of the Draw

Rafael Nadal is set to win his eighth French Open title this time but he has some interesting opponents in his path like Lukas Rosol, Benoit Paire and Stanislas Wawrinka - of course, these are just his most likely possible opponents as the draws have a way of opening themselves up - or just staying in course.  We expect him though to reach the semifinals of the French Open though where he will most likely meet Novak Djokovic.

French Open 2013: Interesting First Round Match-ups - Tomas Berdych vs. Gael Monfils

Gael Monfils has gone down in the rankings this past year (he's at #109) but I believe he still remains a threat to anyone in the field, so it's definitely going to be a tough first round for Tomas Berdych, especially that Berdych is meeting him in Paris!  I could just imagine the Paris crowd supporting Gael, who is such a flashy player and who can really get the crowd to his side!  Definitely another interesting first round match to see!

French Open 2013: Analyzing Novak Djokovic's Side of the Draw

Novak Djokovic is seeded #1 for this French Open tournament.  He faces a tough draw though as he gets to meet David Goffin of Belgium in the first round! David was the guy who took out one set off Roger Federer in last year's fourth round match.  David could maybe duplicate that effort, but this time, he's not an unknown factor anymore, and everybody knows what he is capable of.  It would be really interesting to see that match.

There are more land mines in Novak's path.  He will most likely meet Grigor Dimitrov again!  The guy who beat him in Rome.  That would be another very interesting match up since it would be great to see how Novak rises to the occasion in the grand slam stage.

After that, I pick two Germans to square off with Novak before he reaches the semifinals.  Philipp Kohlschreiber and Tommy Haas are my picks for Novak to meet in the 4th round and quarterfinals.  It would be great to see Tommy do well in this tournament.

French Open 2013: Interesting First Round Match-ups - Novak Djokovic vs. David Goffin

Novak Djokovic gets a very tough first round assignment with Belgian David Goffin, who reached the fourth round in last year's French Open where he lost to Roger Federer.  Let's see how David squares against Novak, who earlier this clay season, lost to Grigor Dimitrov, another talented player who is also in his side of the draw.  Que horror!!

Singapore Hosting WTA Year-End Championships

OMG! This is one of the best news I've received this year!! For the next five years, I can finally watch the WTA year-end championships! I'm sure many tennis fans here in the Philippines would be very excited as well! Anyway, I just hope they make access to the tennis players easy also like what they did before in the HK invitationals, para naman we can have photo ops with them and even maybe have a chat or autograph. As soon as I get the 2014 dates, book the plane ticket na agad para mura pa!