Roland Garros men's draw predictions

The draw for the 2010 French Open, announced Friday morning, should guarantee a deep run for some of the favorites, but early-round match-ups could derail several top players in the first week, if not the first day.

Rafael Nadal: The four-time Roland Garros champion should cruise through rounds one and two, but his first test looms in the third round, where he could meet up with French upstart Jeremy Chardy or two-time slam champion Lleyton Hewitt. His first real threat will likely be in the quarter finals, where Fernando Verdasco or Nicolas Almagro are the likely contenders.

Our Prediction: Nadal will defeat David Ferrer in the semis and remain undefeated for the year on clay with a 4-set victory over Roger Federer. OK, so it isn't a surprising educated guess, but considering Federer and Nadal have won 22 of the last 27 grand slams and all of the last five title's on Court Phillippe Chatrier, this is still the best bet.

Roger Federer: The No. 1 seed and last year's champion is 6-3 on clay this year. He could face Feliciano Lopez and Gael Monfils in the third and fourth rounds and Ernests Gulbis or Albert Montanes (who have both already beaten Federer on clay this year) before getting to the semi-finals. Federer has a tougher draw than last year. But even with a tough draw, he always brings his best game for the majors. He seems to take even more pleasure when he has to beat his closest contenders.

Our Prediction: Roger will beat Andy Murray in a semi-final match before losing to Nadal in the final.

The Dark Horse: Ernests Gulbis, ranked No. 27, won his first title of his career on hard courts in Delray Beach earlier this year, and he has amassed an 11-4 record on clay. Gulbis defeated Albert Montanes and Feliciano Lopez before falling to Federer in the quarterfinals at Madrid. A few weeks before, he beat Federer in the second round of Rome, Lopez in the third round, then lost to Nadal in a three-set semifinal match. The 21-year-old Latvian's run at the French won't be easy, but neither were any other clay tournaments he went deep in earlier. But a first-round encounter with Frenchman Julien Benneteau, and the accompanying French crowd, could cause trouble for Gulbis. Especially considering the veteran Frenchman Benneteau won a big match last fall in front of a home crowd in Paris, defeating Roger Federer in the second round.

Our Prediction: Gulbis will defeat Montanes in the round of 16 before falling to Federer in the quarters. But he does have a good shot to beat the world No. 1 and reach the final. If he does, Nadal will take him in four.

French Hopefuls:

Richard Gasquet is coming off a clay tournament victory in Bordeaux, his first title in nearly three years and second title on clay. After his notorious time off last year, Gasquet is trying to make a name for himself and needs more than a small tournament victory to do so. He hasn't defeated a top-ten player since beating his countrymen Jo Wilfried Tsonga over a year ago in Rome. And with Andy Murray awaiting him in the first round, his chances aren't looking good. We predict Gasquet will lose that first round match, and if he doesn't, he won't be in the draw long enough to see the second week.

Jo Wilfried Tsonga is not a clay court specialist, but his game can be dangerous. He hasn't reached a final on clay in his career, and this year he hasn't come close. Sitting at the bottom of the top half, he could go deep if he can take out some minor clay-court contenders, but you won't see him in the semis or the final. Tsonga is obviously a fiend on hard courts - the surface of all his titles and final appearances, but outside his comfort zone his game suffers.

Gael Monfils has only played four matches on clay this year, but he only lost one (Nadal - Madrid). The 23-year-old world No. 15 will be lucky to make it to the round of 16 and face Federer, and if he does, he'll lose, like he did last year to the Swiss. But even so, the second-highest seed of the Frenchmen made it the quarters last year and the semis in 2008. He is our pick to go the farthest out of his countrymen.

American Hopefuls:

There are none.

But just to be polite, we'll go through them anyway.

Andy Roddick is our pick for the best American man in Paris. Although he is still at the top of the American game, his feet haven't touched clay in any tournament this year, but he did make it to the round of 16 last year, losing to Monfils. Roddick's hard court results this year are very impressive, winning two tournaments and almost attaining the Miami/Indian Wells double. At this year's French, he doesn't have too difficult of a draw, but getting past potential match-ups with Juan Monaco and David Ferrer (fourth and fifth round respectively), won't be an easy task. And if he does somehow clear those and make it farther at Roland Garros than he ever has before, he's sitting on Nadal's side of the draw, which is filled with many other dirt specialists. Roddick's best result at the French was last year in the fourth round, but before that he had several years of losing in the first or second.

John Isner only played in Roland Garros in 2008, and his first-round exit doesn't give him a good history. Despite a losing record on clay so far this year, he did make it the final in Belgrade, losing to Sam Querrey. Querrey has proven his game is better on clay this year out of the two Americans, but Isner looks to have a slight advantage based on his draw.

Querrey won his first clay-court title of his career at Belgrade this year, and he won the doubles there with Isner. But a tough draw won't help. He plays fellow American Robby Ginepri in the first round.