The French Open is one of those Grand Slams that traditionally has been dominated by the 'favourites'. Christ Evert won 7 titles between 1974 and '86 after which Steffi Graf took over and posted 6 wins of her own. Three each in between for Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario meant that there was only 1 other winner (Iva Majoli) of the title between 1985 and 1999 other than the four aforementioned women. The 2000s saw a new champion emerge as the darling of Paris Justine Henin won 4 titles. But with the exception of Henin, that period also witnessed 8 different winners, none of whom ever won a second crown, which is what made the run up to the 2012 French Open so spectacular.

For the first time in many a year, the French Open has two clear favourites heading into the tournament, and as the luck of the draw would have it, 2002 champion Serena Williams, who is unbeaten on clay this year, and world no.2 Maria Sharapova, champion in Stuttgart and Rome, are drawn to face each other as early as the quarter-finals. While the two women are likely to squeam in anguish at the prospect of having to face each other before the title round, perhaps Maria will be the tad more upset at the draw presented to her.

The draw for the second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open at Roland Garros took place today, with the reigning women's champion Li Na helping out the organizers. With Rafael Nadal reclaiming the world no.2 ranking from Roger Federer on Monday by winning the Rome Masters, the big question on every fans' mind was in whose half had the Swiss legend been drawn. Li Na dumped the 16-time Grand Slam champion in the top half of the draw alongside top seed Novak Djokovic while Britain's Andy Murray could look forward to the misfortune of once again running into the King of Clay.

The quarter-finalist segments were drawn next with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga getting Djokovic's quarter, Czech powerhouse Tomas Berdych drawing Federer while Andy Murray had the double misfortune of landing the second best Spaniard on the planet, world no.6 David Ferrer. Rafael Nadal had arguably the easiest of the four opponents in the ever improving Serb Janko Tipsarevic.

French world no. 14 Gael Monfils withdrew from the French Open today after having injured his right knee during his loss to Brian Baker in the 2nd round of Open de Nice Cote d'Azur on Wednesday. Monfils will be out of action for a minimum of 3 weeks.

Monfils, who was ranked 7th in the ATP world rankings in 2009, is an injury-prone player and has had to miss several Grand Slam in the past too. He injured his hamstrings, shoulder and wrist previously.

Monfils, an impressive player on clay, put up his best performance in Grand Slams at Roland Garros when he reached the semi-final of his home event in 2008. He defeated the Spanish battler David Ferrer on course to the semis but lost to the then world no.1 and eventual runner-up Roger Federer in 4 sets.

Lleyton Hewitt and Ashleigh Barty have been awarded wildcards into the main draw of the French Open. Hewitt, who had foot surgery in February, has made a speedier than expected recovery and has been training well on clay.

"I'm looking forward to playing the French Open especially after missing it last year due to injury," Hewitt said.

Rising star Ashleigh Barty, 16, is also looking forward to another Grand Slam challenge.

"I'm thrilled to compete in the main draw of the French Open for the first time and test my game against the world's best. Thank you to Tennis Australia for believing in me enough to give me this opportunity and I will do my best to make everyone proud," Barty said.

The present King of Clay, Rafael Nadal took the final step towards making that particular crown all his own as he equalled the past King of Clay, Bjorn Borg record of French Opens by winning his sixth title on the clay at Roland Garros today. The Spaniard defeated long time foe Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-1 in an intense clash worthy of a final. In a magnificent display of adversity driven will married to clay court skill, the World no.1 turned around a difficult start, took control of the match with a consummate display, repelled the many advances that Federer made before keeping the pedal firmly depressed in a clinical run to the finish line. In a photo finish, Rafael Nadal sank to his knees in triumph, as the final Federer forehand sailed long, as he completed a special victory.

The Swiss maestro embraced an attacking philosophy that he hasn't shown in the past when combating Nadal on clay, and hit some hit some real high notes doing so, but the 16 time slam champion just failed to keep it at that level on the big points and could not upend the Spaniard on his favourite surface. The scoreboard could well have read differently had a few points gone the other way. However it is on these margins that champions are defined and Federer who's had many moments on the right side of these margins, came up a touch short on a day when Nadal touched the pinnacle of clay court prowess.

Striding to the middle on Court Philippe Chatrier, the significance of the moment was writ clearly on the faces of the defending champion Francesca Schiavone and Na Li – the weight of history evident on the furrowed brows of the two purposeful women. An hour and forty eight minutes later it was Li who became the first Chinese player to ever win a Grand Slam title when she outplayed the world no.5 and defending champion 6-4, 7-6(0) to etch her name in the indelible chapters of tennis history.

The Chinese made the first move attacking Schiavone in the very first game of the match. Li moved the fifth seed side to side before striking a powerful forehand cross court winner to earn the first break point of the afternoon. The Italian saved the moment with some big serves, but the there was no denying the imminent threat from her determined Chinese opponent.