DAY 7 AT ROLAND GARROS

THE MUCH ANTICIPATED RIVALRY RESUMES

Maria Sharapova did her part earlier in the day with a comprehensive dismissal of the sixth seed, Karolina Pliskova. She won 6-2, 6-1 in just fifty-nine minutes.

Serena Williams had a more difficult match; she needed seventy-five minutes to defeat Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-4.

Sharapova has not beaten Williams since the end of 2004. Williams leads their current head-to-head 19:2 and if Sharapova wants to change that statistic, this may be her best chance at doing so. Williams is not as match tough as she would like to be and Sharapova has had more time to get her form back; yet, never underestimate Williams.

THE NUMBER ONE SEEDS

It was another easy day at the office for Rafael Nadal. Home crowd favorite, Richard Gasquet, offered up some initial resistance in the first set until Nadal squashed any hopes the French crowd may have had of an upset. Nadal got off to a 5-0 lead and seemed in complete control when inexplicably he faltered; however, Nadal adjusts more rapidly on this surface than anyone and he did that to win 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Simona Halep on the other hand was tested by Andrea Petkovic. Petkovic had a lead; however as we have seen so many times before, a lead is not guaranteed until the set is won and Petkovic could not hold on to the lead. Halep fought back to take the first set 7-5. After a competitive battle in the first set, Petkovic injured her right knee in the second set and the rest was history. Halep did not let up and won 7-5, 6-0.

OTHER AMERICANS STILL IN THE DRAW

Sloane Stephens withstood the barrage from Camila Giorgi to win 4-6, 6-1, 8-6. Twice Giorgi served for the match and could not secure the victory. Stephens proves once again that when it comes to the big tournaments she is willing to dig deep.

The sole American male remaining, John Isner, won his match and no surprise, there were a couple of tiebreaks involved. He defeated the last remaining French male player, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 7-6(1), 6-4, 7-6(4).

SOURCE OF IMAGES: Zimbio.com (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images: Maria Sharapova).  Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams (serveandrally originals)