Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova set up French Open third-round clash

The first glamour tie of this year's women's singles at Roland Garros has arrived with Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova set to face each other in the third round after completing identical 6-3, 6-3 victories over Klara Zakopalova and Kirsten Flipkens repectively. Sharapova has famously compared her movements on clay to those "a cow on ice" in the past, and the French Open remains the only grand slam tournament that she has never won, while Henin has triumphed at Roland Garros on four separate occasions. But if that would suggest that the odds should be stacked heavily in the Belgian's favour then Sharapova's recent form makes a compelling case otherwise. After winning just one tournament in 2009, the Russian has won two already this year, including the most recent one – on clay in Strasbourg last month. She has now won seven matches in a row on the surface and the ease with which she dispatched Flipkens, hitting five aces and just one double-fault along the way, today hinted at a player brimming with confidence. Henin needed just a brief cameo appearance on Philippe Chatrier Court to complete her own win over Klara Zakopalova, after the match was interrupted on Thursday by dusk and rain with the four-times champion holding a 3-2 advantage in the second set. The Belgian started confidently when the match resumed, breaking her opponent's serve to open a 4-2 lead, and though she was broken back Henin went on to win the last two games and prevail on her fourth match point with a forehand winner down the line. Elsewhere in the women's draw, the Williams sisters continued their confident progress through the early rounds, recording swift straight-sets wins that put Venus through to the fourth round and Serena into the third. Neither sister has dropped a set so far at this year's tournament. Serena was the first up on Suzanne Lenglen Court, as she took on Germany's Julia Görges in a match that had originally scheduled for yesterday before it was postponed due to rain. That delay had eliminated the possibility of a day's rest before any third-round match, but Serena ensured herself the maximum possible recovery time as she triumphed 6-1, 6-1 inside 55 minutes. Serena,who will face the 29th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova tomorrow, could not have wished for a more straightforward first set. Unlike during her opening win over Stefanie Vögele, she was almost never troubled, breaking Görges to love in game four before securing a double-break at the third attempt two games later. Facing Williams for the first time, world No77 Görges's serve disintegrated at the start of the second set, the 21-year-old double-faulting four times to gift the American a double break. She ended a nine-game losing streak by saving break point in game five but she was just delaying the inevitable, dropping serve again to Williams, who has only once failed to reach the last 32 of a grand slam. Venus was even more efficient with her time, powering past Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-4 in 43 minutes on Philippe Chatrier Court. Cibulkova had matched Williams in the opening set until a double fault gifted the American a 5-3 lead. Williams served out the first set but the second was level at 3-3 when Williams broke Cibulkova once again to assert her authority upon the match. But Williams did not have it all her own way in the next game even though she raced 40-0 ahead. Cibulkova hit back to claim deuce before her opponent took her first advantage point to lead 5-3. Cibulkova held service in the next game but Williams then served out the match for victory. Williams faces a fourth-round appointment with the winner of the match between France's 15th seed, Aravane RezaïFrench O, and Russia's 19th seed, Nadia Petrova.