Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova will be the superstar acts on French Open 2015 Day 6, as the second Grand Slam of the year, slowly but surely, heads towards the business end.
With women's seeds falling left, right and centre – Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki and Eugenie Bouchard have already bit the dust – there will be pressure on the defending champion Sharapova to march through.
However, it will be far from easy as the lanky Russian takes on a Grand Slam winner in Samantha Stosur. On her day, Stosur has the ability to beat any player in the circuit, and if Sharapova drops the ball even slightly, she could find herself in a hole that will be difficult to claw out of.
The Australian might not be at the peak of her powers anymore, but her 26th seeding suggests, she will be a difficult opponent for the No.2 seed Sharapova to knock over.
Before Sharapova takes court, however, there will be the small matter of the Swiss Master Federer looking to make his passage into the fourth round. Federer will face unheralded Bosnian Damir Dzumhur in the French Open 2015 third round.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion did not have it all his own way in the second round, even if the scoreline of 6-2, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 suggests an easy enough victory over Marcel Granollers.
Federer had to fight out of a couple of difficult situations in the match, with Granollers looking good with a service break a couple of times. However, the Swiss legend's big-match experience proved to be the major difference in the end, despite Granollers also being a regular fixture on the circuit for well over a decade.
"Experience helps in the sense that you're more relaxed," Federer was quoted as saying by French Open's official website after the straight-set win in the second round. "Entering a tournament like this, you know how to prepare.
"You go into a first-round match in a calm manner without any panic, whereas maybe 10 years ago or more, you're so worried about everything, you hope that you did the right things, you hope that you're going to play OK, you hope your opponent is not going to play the best."
Federer's third round match on Court Philippe Chatrier will be preceded by an interesting battle between local girl Alize Cornet, seeded 29, and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, the Croatian who knocked Halep out.
There are a couple of other interesting matches on the other courts as well, with Nicolas Mahut vs Gilles Simon, the battle of the two Frenchman, certainly set to catch the eye, while Carla Suarez-Navarro vs Flavia Pennetta should also be an interesting encounter.
Former champion Ana Ivanovic will look to avoid an early exit when she plays Donna Vekic of Croatia, while the always-entertaining Gael Monfils should be worth a watch as well, when the 13th seeded Frenchman faces No.26 seed Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.
Schedule of play on the three showpiece courts (play starts 11 pm local time, 2.30 pm IST, 10 pm BST, 5 am ET):
Court Philippe Chatrier: 29-Alize Cornet (France) vs Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Croatia)
Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia) vs 2-Roger Federer (Switzerland)
26-Samantha Stosur (Australia) vs 2-Maria Sharapova (Russia)
14-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) v Pablo Andujar (Spain)
Court Suzanne Lenglen: 7-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) vs Donna Vekic (Croatia)
Nicolas Mahut (France) vs 12-Gilles Simon (France)
13-Gael Monfils (France) vs 21-Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay)
8-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) vs 28-Flavia Pennetta (Italy)
Court One: 1-Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (US) vs Thanasi Kokkinakis (Australia)/Lucas Pouille (France)
13-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) v 20-Sabine Lisicki (Germany)
8-Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) v Steve Johnson (US)
Benoit Paire (France) v 4-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)
Where to Watch Live
French Open 2015 Day 6 will be shown live in India on Neo Sports and Neo Prime. Audience in the UK can catch the matches live on ITV, while the live streaming option is on ITV Player. Viewers in Europe can watch the Roland Garros action Eurosport and Eurosport Player.
Audience watching the French Open early morning onwards in the US can tune into NBC and ESPN, while the live stream options are on NBC Live Extra and Watch ESPN.
Viewers in Australia can tune flip the remote to Fox Sports, or watch Federer, Sharapova and the rest live in action on Foxtel.
To listen to all the French Open action as it happens, viewers across the world can tune into Roland Garros Radio.
