Fresh from her title run in Istanbul, Turkey, Elena Dementieva is now back in Paris to get her French Open campaign underway. The Russian stands as the 13th seed and will open up against Angelique Kerber of Germany on Tuesday.

This is the 106th edition of the most prestigious clay court tournament of the planet and three years ago it witnessed Dementieva’s first outing at a Grand Slam final. She would eventually lose in nervous final to countrywoman Anastasia Myskina, who’s also playing in this event. However, Dementieva has fond memories of Paris and although she has failed to go beyond the 4th round since 2004 her fluency in French makes her the Paris darling of the fortnight everytime she comes.

Dementieva was initially scheduled to play on Monday, but due to the weather her match was rescheduled for Tuesday, on court 1 starting at 11 am, Paris time. She takes on germany’s Angelique Kerber, current world number 93, who’s highest ranking ever was 88th. Kerber is making her debut at the Grand Slam main draw level and Elena will surely show her what the level is all about.

Dementieva has improved on her somewhat weak start to the season. The Russian went 6-4 up until Antwerp in February but has since Warsaw - her comeback tournament after a layoff of 2 months - turned her record around coming 10-3 in her last four tournaments, including her Istanbul effort. She’s 16-7 for the season.

In Istanbul she stopped french sensation Aravane Rezai. Rezai had beaten respectively Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova in both the 2nd round and the semis of Istanbul before falling to Dementieva after a second set retirement while trailing 0-3. Dementieva had claimed the first set 7-6(5).