French Open 2013: Players Set to Turn Fortunes Around at Roland Garros

The French Open is arguably the most challenging of the four Grand Slam tournaments. 

The red clay at Roland Garros can offer a huge advantage to some players who grew up playing on the surface or prefer a slower-playing court. But for those with fast games that tend to thrive on the quick hard courts, the red stuff can be a nightmare.

Until now.

Here we'll highlight a trio of players who are set to turn their fortunes around in Paris this summer.

Victoria Azarenka

Women's No. 3 seed Victoria Azarenka fell in the fourth round at the French Open a year ago, losing to Dominika Cibulkova. For her career, the two-time Aussie Open champ has never been further than the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.

But following a straight-sets win over Elena Vesnina in the opening round on Wednesday, the 23-year-old Belarusian looks ready to take the next step on the Paris clay.

While there are a number of talented players in Azarenka's quarter of the draw, her dominant performance in Round 1 proves that she is capable of beating anyone on any surface. 

Sure, Azarenka thrives on the fast-playing hard courts in Melbourne and Flushing Meadows, but when she's locked in, winning 78 percent of her first-serve points and committing only 13 unforced errors like she did against Vesnina, she's tough to beat, even on clay.

Stanislas Wawrinka

Stanislas Wawrinka has quietly been playing some superb tennis this season, winning the Portugal Open and reaching two other clay-court tournament finals prior to the start of the French Open.

Although Wawrinka has always been a clay-court stud, the ninth-seeded Swiss star has never been past the fourth round in Paris, bowing out at that stage in each of the past three French Open tournaments. Still, after a strong performance in his first outing, beating Thiemo de Bakker in four sets in the opening round, it's hard to bet against the 28-year-old Wawrinka potentially reaching the quarters for the first time in his career.

Plus, it's been 10 years since Wawrinka won the junior title at Roland Garros according to Katie Bee:

Playing an aggressive style aided by loads of confidence, Wawrinka looks set to meet Rafael Nadal in the quarters, who he lost to in the final at Madrid in early May.

But a run to the quarterfinals would be impressive enough for Wawrinka, who has reached that stage just twice at a major tournament. And who knows, if he keeps adding to his count of 55 winners, maybe he can pull off an upset similar to Robin Soderling in 2009.

Agnieszka Radwanska

Top-ranked Polish star Agnieszka Radwanska has never been past the fourth round at the French Open. But in 2013, the 24-year-old is off to a strong start and looks ready to break through to the quarterfinals for the first time.

Radwanska has reached the third round for the third consecutive year after blowing past Shahar Peer in the first round and then defeating American Mallory Burdette in Round 2. 

The world No. 4 has yet to drop a single frame in Paris, winning all four of her sets and playing lights-out tennis to start. In her second-round victory, Radwanska recorded 14 winners to just five unforced errors. 

She'll square off against another unseeded player in the third round in Dinah Pfizenmaier. And once again, Radwanska will be a heavy favorite to survive and advance to the fourth round, where she has come up short in recent years. 

But like Azarenka, Radwanska is too talented a player to exit in the early rounds of the same major year after year. All indications are that this is the year Radwanska finally emerges as a legitimate contender in the French capital.

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