By David Gold

Esther Vergeer_5_JuneJune 5 - The world's top wheelchair tennis stars will be battling for glory in Paris this week for the French Open at Roland Garros, which runs from tomorrow until Friday (June 8).

Men's world number-one Maikel Scheffers and women's counterpart Esther Vergeer (pictured top) will be favourites to win the singles titles at the Grand Slam event.

Vergeer has not lost since 2003 – a remarkable run of 454 matches – and with Wimbledon and London 2012 round the corner will be odds-on to win the women's competition.

Dutch compatriot Scheffers will hope to repeat his triumph from last year when he claimed his maiden Grand Slam title.

One player who will pose the Dutchman a serious threat is Japan's Shingo Kunieda (pictured below), a former world number-one who won the French singles crown four years in a row from 2007 to 2010.

Shingo Kunieda_5_June
World number-two Stephane Houdet is one of four Frenchman hoping for glory in front of the home crowd, along with Michael Jeremiasz, Nicolas Peifer and Frederic Cattaneo.

Making up the eight-strong line-up will be Dutch duo Ronald Vink and Robin Ammerlaan.

Challenging Vergeer for the women's title will be world number-two Aniek van Koot, also of the Netherlands, and compatriots Marjolein Buis and Jiske Griffioen.

Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany, Belgian Annick Sevenans, Japan's Yui Kamiji and French wild card entry Sharon Walraven, the French Open runner-up in 2010, complete the draw.

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