Madrid Open 2012: Serena Williams' Performance Makes Her French Open Favorite

Serena Williams has never had much success at the French Open, winning the Grand Slam event just once as compared to at least three victories at the other majors. However, her performance against Caroline Wozniacki at the Madrid Open shows she's ready to make some serious noise in Paris.

After dropping the first set, Williams took control early in the second and cruised to victory against the former No. 1 player. The win makes Williams, who has been playing more tournaments with the Olympics on the horizon, 10-0 on clay this season.

Even though clay isn't Williams' best surface by any means, she possesses enough power to hit through any court when she's playing her best, like she has been recently. The struggling Wozniacki found that out the hard way on Thursday.

The extra practice should help Williams prepare for a deep run in the French Open. In recent years, she hasn't played many second-tier tournaments. Whether it be due to injury or outside interests, that impacted her results at major events.

It's difficult enough to survive a Grand Slam field when a player is on a good roll. Attempting to do it on a tough surface without much preparation is basically impossible, which explains why Williams hasn't won a major since 2010.

She has a great chance to end that drought starting later this month. Her chances are helped by the volatility of the women's game. Nobody can maintain any level of dominance for an extended period of time, leaving the door open for Williams.

Her main competition figures to come from Victoria Azarenka, but the rising star only has one major under her belt and has never advanced beyond the quarterfinals at the French Open.

Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova both have the power to keep pace with Williams, but neither of them have ever had much success in Paris, either. Defending champion Li Na would be another name to watch.

Ultimately, if Williams plays like she did in the final two sets on Thursday, none of those players are going to beat her. If she plays up to her capabilities, she's still the best player on tour and can still win a few more majors.

She has to feel good about her recent play, and that confidence alone should be more than enough to push her through the early rounds. It will also give her the mental edge against some of those aforementioned players at the business end of the tournament.

Right now, it's tough to imagine anybody playing well enough to take two sets against her, just like back in her prime when she was the favorite in every tournament.