By BEN ROTHENBERGMAY 23, 2014  PARIS — Rafael Nadal, the eight-time winner of the French Open, cringed and smiled nervously as the 25th chip he pulled at the draw ceremony for the women’s singles tournament at Roland Garros placed 29th-seeded Venus Williams into a possible third-round meeting with her sister Serena, the top seed and defending champion.  If both sisters advance that far, it will be their first meeting at a Slam since the second round of the 1998 Australian Open, Serena’s first appearance at a major tournament — she was only 16. They have since met 11 more times in Grand Slam events; once in the fourth round, once in a quarterfinal, once in a semifinal, and eight times in a final.  “It never gets easier,” Serena said of playing her sister. “She’s essentially the love of my life, so it’s definitely difficult.”  Venus and Serena have not played since April 2013 when they met in the semifinals in Charleston, which is played on green clay. Serena won, 6-1, 6-2, with Venus visibly struggling with fatigue after having played two matches the day before in a rain-plagued tournament.  In the quarterfinals here, Serena Williams could face seventh-seeded Maria Sharapova, whom she defeated, 6-4, 6-4, in last year’s final.  Sharapova, who has emerged as one of the most consistently dominant players on clay in the past three years, has amassed a 47-1 record on clay against all players except Williams, against whom she is 0-3.  Other contenders looming in the loaded top quarter of the draw include No. 9 Dominika Cibulkova, the Australian Open runner-up in January, and No. 19 Samantha Stosur, a 2010 runner-up at Roland Garros and a two-time semifinalist.  The second quarter is anchored by No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 8 Angelique Kerber, neither of whom is at her most comfortable on clay. Several dangerous lower seeds could be able to take advantage of this weaker section, including No. 12 Flavia Pennetta, No. 14 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 18 Eugenie Bouchard and No. 20 Alize Cornet, the top-ranked Frenchwoman in the tournament.  On the bottom half, the third quarter is anchored by No. 4 Simona Halep, a fast rising Romanian who was unseeded at the tournament a year ago. She could face No. 11 Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion who has found vintage form this year after years of inconsistency, in the quarterfinals.  In the bottom quarter, second-seeded Li Na could face No. 28 Andrea Petkovic, a recent champion on clay in Charleston, in the third round, and then No. 6 Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals. Li, the Australian Open champion, is looking to become the first woman to win the first two legs of the traditional Grand Slam since Jennifer Capriati in 2001.  The men’s side of the draw, for which Serena Williams performed the draw, also features a potential rematch of last year’s final in the quarterfinal stage, with No. 5 David Ferrer, last year’s runner-up, placed in top-seeded Nadal’s section. Nadal, who has lost more matches on clay before the French Open this year than he has since 2003, lost to Ferrer in the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo. Nadal could also face No. 21 Nicolas Almagro, whom he lost to in the quarterfinals at Barcelona, in the fourth round in Paris. The 20-year-old Austrian Dominic Thiem, the youngest player ranked in the top 100, looms as a second-round threat to Nadal.  In the semifinals, Nadal could face third-seeded Stan Wawrinka, whom he lost to in the final of the Australian Open in January, or No. 7 Andy Murray, who returns to the French Open after missing it last year with a back injury.  On the bottom half, fourth-seeded Roger Federer is slated to face No. 6 Tomas Berdych or No. 10 John Isner in the quarterfinals, and possibly second-seeded Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.  Djokovic, who anchors the last quarter of the draw, faces several early challenges on his path to the one Grand Slam title that has eluded him. He could face the powerful Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who upset Federer last week in Rome, in the second round, then No. 30 Marin Cilic in the third round, and the French favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No. 13 seed, in the fourth round. In the quarterfinals, Djokovic could face No. 8 Milos Raonic, who came within a tiebreaker of defeating him last week in Rome.
Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal, the No. 1 seeds for the Paris tournament, were given tricky routes to the final at the draw ceremony on Friday.