Before each day's play begins in Paris, we'll preview three must-see matches that you'll find on Tennis Channel Plus. Tennis Channel Plus features up to 10 courts of live action from Roland Garros beginning Sunday, May 27 at 5:00am ET. Catch up and watch all your favorite stars anytime, on-demand, with Tennis Channel Plus.
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You remember the last time these two played, right? How could anyone forget? Their Australian Open semifinal, which Halep won 9-7 in the third set, will surely end up among the half-dozen best matches of the year. While it might be too much to ask the German and the Romanian to entertain us at that level again on Thursday, it’s not too much to expect a close and competitive quarterfinal. Halep and Kerber are 5-5 lifetime, and they played at least one other classic, at the Rogers Cup in 2015. Both are also ultra-steady, ultra-speedy baseliners, neither of whom can easily power the ball past the other. Hence their wildly riveting rallies Down Under. They could get even more so on clay. Winner: Halep
By all rights, Sharapova and Muguruza—both tall, both powerful, neither quiet—should have a classic rivalry going. But they’ve played just three matches, all in 2013 or 2014. Sharapova won all three, but two of those meetings, including one in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2014, were close. In fact, Muguruza won the first set of that match 6-1. Muguruza is also a very different—i.e., better—player than she was then; in the last three years, she has won two majors, while Sharapova has spent the lion’s share of her time serving a doping suspension.
WATCH—Serena Williams' press conference after withdrawing from French Open:
