French Open 2012 Breakout Stars

The big three are still intact in the fourth round of this year's French Open:

Rafael Nadal is looking like his normal self, at least on clay.

Roger Federer is showing no signs of slowing.

And No. 1 seeded Novak Djokovic, who has won the last three majors, has now won 25 consecutive Grand Slam matches and looks poised to challenge for the title on clay this year.

But there are lesser known guys at Roland Garros who've stepped up their game. The world is finding out who they are and, in some cases, learning how to pronounce their names correctly.

Here are my top three overlooked players at this year's French Open who you may want to keep an eye on.

Marcel Granollers

Ranked No. 20 in the world in ATP Rankings, Marcel Granollers has done quite well for himself at this year's French Open, most recently surviving an epic five-set match against Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Granollers has done so well, in fact, that he has the pleasure of spending his Monday morning playing one of the few players better than him in his native Spain, No. 6 ranked David Ferrer, who will no doubt give Granollers a taste of competition he hasn't yet tasted in his previous unranked opponents. 

But he deserves some respect because this is the farthest the 26-year-old has gone in a Grand Slam. Previously, his deepest run was to the third round of the 2011 U.S. Open against Juan Carlos Ferrero, in which he ended up retiring because of an abdominal injury.

If he were to defeat Ferrer, it would be quite the upset. He's 0-3 against him and previously lost to him on clay in 2010 at the Barcelona Open.

No, he's not a power player or really any particular kind of player. He's hard to pigeonhole and unpredictable in his style of play, beating Mathieu with a clever, sliced drop shot placed perfectly over the net. But doing a lot of things pretty well is often better than having the kind of one-dimensional game that makes it easy for opponents to anticipate.

It's unlikely he'll beat Ferrer, but he'll figure to be one of the more fun players to watch on clay in years ahead. Learn the name.

Nicolas Almagro

In the past two years, No. 12 ranked Nicolas Almagro has knocked off a few of the game's more recognizable names.

In the 2010 Swedish Open, he beat defending champion Robin Soderling, and last year he defeated former world No. 1 and fellow compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Last year, he beat Andy Murray in the French Open before losing to Nadal in the quarterfinals.  But even that wasn't a walk in the park for the King of Clay. Nadal barely beat him, escaping 6–7, 6–7, 4–6.

And at the 2009 Masters in Paris, Almagro lost to Nadal 6-3, 6-7, 5-7. But, most impressive (or least impressive, depending on how you look at it), he had five opportunities to serve for the match against Nadal. If Nadal is any measure of success for Almagro, he's definitely more than capable of the upset.

He's got the fundamentals down but sometimes is his own worst enemy. He's got one of the more powerful forehands in the tournament and is at his best on clay. At 27 years old, he could be due for some of his best years right about now.

Stanislas Wawrinka

Stanislas Wawrinka is fast on clay. Really fast. He's won three titles, and two of them have come on clay. His single-handed backhand is pretty incredible to watch and is as good as any in the game right now, allowing him to go for angles that most can't achieve, or return.

His current No. 18 ATP ranking isn't indicative of what he can do at the French Open, nor is it indicative of the upside there is to the the 27-year-old.

He started off last year by defeating world No. 6 Tomas Berdych to win the Chennai Open and knocked off Andy Roddick to advance to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

Play was suspended because of fading light in the fifth set of his match on Sunday against the bigger Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Don't be surprised if Wawrinka pulls off the upset when the light returns. Tsonga was up two sets on Wawrinka last year in Paris and ended up losing the match.

Look for Wawrinka to make a splash this year and pull off a few upsets. And maybe by the end of 2012,  people will learn how to spell his name correctly.