Maria Sharapova leads a strong field for the Premier-level WTA Paris Indoors event this week, starting on February 6th.
Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo won this event a record three times in her pomp and Mauresmo has done another fine job of assembling an excellent field.
Sharapova will be hoping to put her Australian Open final disappointment behind her. The Russian served pretty well all fortnight and that's vital to success in this event which is all about first strike tennis.
As ever, Li Na performed well in Melbourne and was desperately unlucky not to progress further than the fourth round but the Chinese star has rarely produced her best indoors so it's hard to know what to expect from her this week.
The conditions will suit Marion Bartoli's hard hitting game. She would have hoped for a better start to the season but she's still ranked seven in the world at present and so can't have too much to complain about. With the fans behind her, Bartoli could do well this week.
The dark horses could be the German duo of Sabine Lisicki and Julia Goerges provided they aren't too exhausted from the weekend's Fed Cup exploits. Lisicki wasn't far off upsetting Sharapova at the Australian Open while Goerges pushed Petra Kvitova all the way in the Fed Cup, ultimately losing 3-6, 6-3, 10-8.
World number 13 Jelena Jankovic can never been discounted and this is an excellent opportunity for the Serb to show she's still a threat to those at the top of the rankings.
And a little further down the entry list, both Kaia Kanepi and Lucie Safarova are worth watching out for as they both have the power to unsettle anyone on this surface.
