Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic takes on 28th seed Maria Sharapova of Russia in a much-anticipated third round tie of French Open 2018 at the Philippe-Chatrier, Paris on Saturday, June 2.
When is the match and how to watch it live
The Roland Garros third round match will not start before 12 pm local time, 3:30 pm IST, 11 am BST.
Star Sports Select 1 and Star Sports Select 1 HD will provide live television coverage of the match in India. Live stream will be available on Hotstar.
Sharapova vs Pliskova - Roland Garros preview
Comeback woman Sharapova faces her first big test of the tournament and a win against the top-10 player later today will help her ascertain her title credentials in Paris.
The world number 30 is heading into the match on the back of a straight-set win over Donna Vekic of Croatia 7-5 6-4 in the second round. The comfortable win should have boosted her confidence, especially after the big scare she faced in the first round.
Sharapova made an impressive start in her first match in Paris since 2015 by winning the first set against lower-ranked Richel Hogenkamp 6-1. However, she was tested by the Dutch player, who won the second and was up 3-0 in the decider.
The Russian superstar though found a way to make a strong comeback and win the decider without losing a game from thereon.
Sharapova will be confident, heading into Saturday's outing as she has enjoyed a decent run on the red dirt this season. After a difficult start to the season, the 31-year-old hit form in Madrid, reaching the quarter-final and followed it up with a semi-final appearance in Rome.
Like the challenge of playing against a good server: Sharapova
Nonetheless, Sharapova has been committing a lot of unforced errors and she cannot afford to do so when she takes on Pliskova. She needs to be better with her returns as well as the Czech star can tear into opponents with her serving game.
"I don't expect extremely long rallies against an opponent like that. But sometimes it's not what it takes to win a match, and I think you have to kind of take care of your service games, and I have to serve better than I have been and take care of the return," Sharapova said while acknowledging Pliskova's high-quality serving game, as quoted by Daily Express.
"But that side of the game, I feel, has improved in the last few months and I like the challenge of coming up against a really good server."
On the other hand, Pliskova is heading into the third-round tie on the back of a draining three-set win over Lucie Safarova. The 26-year-old has found a lot of success on the red dirt this season as she won the title in Stuttgart before reaching the semi-final in Madrid.
Pliskova will start the match as favourite but she cannot afford to take Sharapova lightly as the Russian would be eager to lay down an early marker on her return to Roland Garros.
French Open 2018 - Global TV listings and live stream
UK: ITV4, Eurosport; Live stream: Eurosport Player
US: ESPN2, NBC; Live stream: Tennis Channel
Australia: Fox Sports 3; Live stream: Foxtel Go
Canada: TSN
France: France TV Sport 234
Pan-European: Eurosport International
Japan: WOWOW, TV Tokyo
China: CCTV 5
Middle East: beIN Sports
Africa: SuperSport
