This Monday, the most talented men and women in tennis will initiate the process of deciding who will walk away with the year’s second major. While Rafael Nadal is unequivocally the favorite on the men’s side, the women’s potential champion is much harder to predict.

Although Nadal going down to Roger Federer in Madrid added spice to the contest, the Spaniard remains the one with the target on his back. Fellow countrymen David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco, possible fourth round and quarterfinal opponents respectively, could provide further intrigue to the plot. But, Nadal has had no trouble dealing with either man during his spectacular clay court run. The most anticipated semifinal match up could be Nadal versus Brit Andy Murray. Murray showed moments of brilliance in their semifinal meeting in Monte Carlo which he lost. Murray may need to go through Spaniard Albert Montanes, Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, pesky Czech Radek Stepanek or Marat Safin, a semifinalist in 2008. So Murray’s will have a mount to climb before getting to Nadal.

On paper, Federer should reach the quarterfinals without difficulties. However, lurking in Roger’s section are James Blake, Tomas Berdych and a couple Spaniards, any of them could serve as spoilers. In the quarters, Federer could face Andy Roddick. Yet, Roddick could have a rough time getting past his rivals since clay is not his best surface. Serb Novak Djokovic and Federer could meet in the semifinals. Having come back from a set and a break down to prevail their last two encounters, Novak will have confidence squarely in his corner. However, standing in Djokovic’s way in the preliminary rounds may be former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, top ten players Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro and Frenchman Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.

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In the clash of the teenagers at the Family Circle Cup in South Carolina, a green clay premier tournament, German Sabine Lisicki, ranked 62nd, dominated Dane Caroline Wozniacki, ranked 12th, 6-2, 6-4 to grab her first professional trophy.

After winning the MPS Group Championships in Florida last week and ousting top seed Elena Dementieva in the semifinals, Wozniacki, seeded fifth, was the undisputed favorite. However, Lisicki, seeded 16th, demonstrated from the opening game that she was soaring with confidence although this was only her second WTA final. Wins over Venus Williams, world number five, in the third round and Marion Bartoli, world number 13, in the semifinals, wetted Lisicki’s appetite. By provoking errors from Wozniacki and with two forehand winners, Lisicki broke for 1-0 lead. Then, with an ace and additional forehand winners, Lisicki went up 2-0. Despite being further challenged on her serve, Caroline managed to hold. Subsequently, after Sabine easily guarded serve, she attacked causing Caroline to flay a few forehands and go down double break point. The Dane then gifted the German a 4-1 advantage by double faulting. Never facing any danger, Lisicki closed out the first set.

Although Wozniacki’s performance improved in the second set, the difficulty was that Lisicki matched or surpassed her level of play. After keeping up with Lisicki, in the fifth game, Wozniacki saw a backhand crosscourt pass nullify a game point. Then, three more game points were negated and with a backhand error, Lisicki had break point. Thereupon, with an assist from the net as Wozniacki’s ball went long, Lisicki took a 3-2 lead. But, after being in front 40-0, Lisicki double faulted and made some untimely errors for deuce. When Sabine misfired with a forehand up the line, Caroline got her first break point of the day. Yet, with a forehand crosscourt winner for deuce and adroit serves, Lisicki consolidated for 4-2. Next, with Wozniacki serving at 3-5, Lisicki was like a pit bull. However, after four deuces, the Dane hung on to the game by scooping a heavy ball from the German for a forehand crosscourt winner. After a relatively flawless outing and with triple match point, Lisicki coughed up three consecutive unforced errors for deuce. Sabine then double faulted giving Caroline break point. Still, with her powerful serve, Lisicki evaded trouble. Finally, on the sixth championship point, Lisicki converted with a forehand winner.

Besides winning a major, a unique way to announce one’s self to the tennis world is with a command showing at a premier event. That’s what Lisicki did this week. As a result, the German will see a considerable boost in her ranking.