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Sharapova looking to step up
Second seed Maria Sharapova will look to sharpen her claycourt form when she takes on local favourite Aravane Rezai in the French Open second round.
Second seed Maria Sharapova, having survived one close shave, will look to sharpen her claycourt form when she takes on local favourite Aravane Rezai in the French Open second round on Thursday.
The Wimbledon champion came close to being bundled out by compatriot Evgenia Linetsakaya before winning 6-7 6-2 6-4 but she has no intention of tweaking her all-action style against her French opponent.
"I'm not going to change my game and all of a sudden become a typical clay court player that's going to get everything back," she said. "It's not in the nature of my game. There is no point in doing it.
"I realise that I have a game that's pretty powerful and pretty big.
"So on the clay, I don't get as much advantage as I would on faster surfaces.
"But I also know that as the years have been progressing, I feel that I can withstand longer matches and I can play longer points and come back and play a better point rather than last year where I felt like I was going to die."
Two days after a tough match against veteran Conchita Martinez, Justine Henin-Hardenne faces another Spaniard in Virginia Ruano-Pascual.
The former champion said she had been nervous against Martinez.
"I knew I would be nervous," she said. "Here it's very different for me. This is a grand slam and this is why a grand slam is so different, and this is why we live those matches very differently from other tournaments. You have to be able to manage your nervousness."
In the men's draw, Andy Roddick takes on Argentine Jose Acasuso.
"I feel good," the American said. "I feel great physically, so now it's just getting the other stuff to come around. You know, I'm optimistic.
"This is the one time of year where pretty much I get overlooked from the get go. I'm trying to kind of take that attitude and just maybe, you know, try to surprise some people.
Last year's runner-up Guillermo Coria plays Serb Novak Djokovic and Australian Open champion Marat Safin clashes with Czech Lukas Dlouhy.
