Mathieu has made it to the fourth round of the French Open twice and most recently last year. He has four career titles and achieved his highest world ranking of No. 12 just more than a year ago, so Federer cannot afford to take this match up lightly.
Federer looked dominant in his first round match up against Alberto Martin, but he labored through a four set win over Jose Acasuso, 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2. Federer has had his serve going, notching 21 aces in his two matches, but he's also been troubled by unforced errors with 29 in the first round and 45 in the second. Will Federer be able to stay on a collision course with the King of Clay, Nadal?
2. Will Serena suffer the same fate as her sister? Venus Williams suffered a shocking loss to Agnes Szavay, 6-0, 6-4. The younger Serena will face off with Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. After struggling through an opening round win over Klara Zakopalova, the No. 2 seeded Serena coasted by Virginia Ruana Pascual, 6-2, 6-0. She went from 35 unforced errors in her first match down to just 14 in her second. She had four double faults in the opening round, but didn't suffer any in round two. Will Serena be able to stay focused and keep her mistakes at a minimum?
3. Can Andy Roddick make it past the third round of the French Open for the first time in his career? Roland Garros has been a virtual house of horrors for Roddick, but he is doing his best to put that behind him. His best performance at the French had been making it to the third round, a feat he only achieved once before this year (2001). Roddick has yet to drop a set, so a fourth round appearance could be in his future. The No. 6 seed has notched just 24 unforced errors in his first two matches while racking up 63 winners and 26 aces. Can Roddick continue his high level of play against France's Marc Gicquel?
4. Will Elena Dementieva take advantage of her second chance? It looked like the No. 4 seed was headed for a second round exit in her match against Jelena Dokic. Dementieva dropped the first set, 6-2 and was struggling in the second set before going up 4-3 before Dokic had to retire due to a lower back injury. Dementieva may have come back and won the match anyway, but she has to feel like she has been given a second chance. She double faulted six times and committed 20 unforced errors in her abbreviated second round match, both numbers she'll need to work on to keep advancing. Will she be able to regain form against Samantha Stosur?
5. Can Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continue to take advantage of the home court advantage. After No. 7 Gilles Simon fell, Tsonga, the No. 9 seed, is the highest ranked French player remaining. This is just Tsonga's second appearance in the French Open, but he burst onto the scene as a player to be reckoned with in 2008 as he made it to the finals of the Australian Open as an unranked player. He took the first set in the finals against Novak Djokovic, the only set Djokovic dropped in the entire tournament, but had to settle for runner up. He came back with a quarterfinals appearance this year and looks to keep his momentum going at Roland Garros.
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