Maria Sharapova, who won the biggest clay-court title of her career last week in Rome, says that reigning U.S. and Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters is one to beat at Roland Garros, even though the Belgian hasn’t played Miami as she tore ligaments in her ankle while dancing at her cousin’s wedding. Sharapova is in Clijsters’ quarter. "She's someone that's a great champion, is one that's won the last couple of Grand Slams, is No. 2 in the world," Sharapova told reporters. "She's certainly the one to beat here. It's always difficult to not play for a few weeks and come back as a Grand Slam being your first tournament. But she has a tremendous amount of experience behind her back. I don't think this is the first time that she's come back after having a long layoff. She's been able to do really well when she's taken time off, so you can never count her out."
Sharapova calls Clijsters Roland Garros favorite
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Published May 21, 2011