French Open 2012 Results: Breaking Down Venus Williams' Championship Odds

Venus Williams has a better chance to win the French Open than meets the eye. Despite a scare in Round 1 after losing the first set, Venus has survived to focus on Round 2.

With her decent consistency at the French Open that includes seven appearances in Round 4 and three in the quarterfinals, Williams has the proven record for a strong run. And although Venus enters Roland-Garros unseeded, her complete game talent still resides to make some noise.

View bracket section for Venus Williams courtesy of Roland-Garros.

Round 2 Fate

The second-round for Venus Williams will be very telling as to how far she can last in the 2012 French Open.

Right now Williams has the winner of Bojana Jovanovski and No. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in Round 2. Provided Radwanska gets upset, that significantly boosts Williams' odds at moving further into the tournament.

However, if Venus has to face Radwanska as expected, then her road to Round 3 simply just became more difficult. Radwanska made the quarterfinals at Australia, won in Miami and made the semifinals in Madrid.

Obviously a loss eliminates her, but Venus has a golden opportunity to make a strong impression provided she gets past Round 2.

Bracket Section

Venus didn't get put in the most difficult of sections of the bracket, so surviving Round 2 pits her against much lower-ranked competition.

Excluding Radwanska, seven other women in Venus' section of the bracket are ranked, but the two who are seeded in the top 10 (Marion Bartoli, No. 8; Angelique Kerber, No. 10) are on the other side of the section.

On her side of the section, Williams' best competition outside of Radwanska are Ana Ivanovic (No. 13) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (No. 26). Ivanovic hasn't made it past the second-round since 2009 and has not won a Grand Slam since 2008 (French Open).

Kuznetsova is tough on this stage as she reached the quarterfinals last year and has made it to at least Round 3 every year since 2004. The good news for Williams, though, is that Kutznetsova has had a disappointing 2012 season, so the momentum is not favorable. 

French Open Consistency

Although Venus Williams has not won a Grand Slam since 2008 (Wimbledon), she has seen respectably consistent results in France.

From 1998 to 2010, Williams lasted until at least the third-round of the French Open every year except one (Round 1 in 2001; she didn't compete in 2011). Her best appearance was the final in 2002, and she lasted until Round 4 in 2010.

Her power play and aggressiveness helps on the slower court despite seeing less success on clay than other surfaces. Still, Venus has endured better on clay than given credit for and is coming off a quarterfinals appearance in Italy.

Williams' performance on clay isn't overly dominant, but it's been good enough to make her an underrated contender in France.

John Rozum on Twitter.