Paris, France, 23 May 2012 | Tennis Australia

Olivia Rogowska will lead a small contingent of Aussie women into the French Open women’s qualifying draw, beginning on Wednesday in Paris.

The Victorian, seeded No.12 in the draw, will take on China’s Shuai Zhang in her opening match.

Zhang was ranked as high as No.73 back in early 2011, but enjoys most of her success on the doubles court, currently ranked in the top 50 in the tandem game and having won two WTA doubles titles.

Rogowska will not be taking the world No.167 lightly. The Aussie comes into Paris having struggled on clay at ITF level, going 2-4 in four events across the United States and Europe.

But Rogowska knows how to win on Parisian clay, having reached the second round of the main draw as a wildcard in 2009.

Joining the world No.123 in qualifying are compatriots Isabella Holland and Sacha Jones.

Jones, who represented New Zealand until early 2012 when she chose to adopt the country of her father’s birth, first faces Poland’s Sandra Zaniewska.

The 21-year-old has been playing on clay since March, enjoying a respectable 11-6 win-loss record at ITF claycourt events in Australia and the United States.

Zaniewska represents a tough challenge for Jones, with the Pole currently sitting more than 50 places higher in the rankings at No.173.

Holland arrives at the French Open for the first time in her career, the 20-year-old hoping to turn around a mediocre start to 2012 that has garnered a win-loss record of 3-12.

The Queenslander takes on 24th seeded Frenchwoman Iryna Bremond, who has fallen in the first round of nine of the 10 tournaments she has played this season.

Some big international names are looking to make a splash when they take to the red clay courts of Paris to contest their qualifying matches.

Promising Brits Heather Watson and Laura Robson, seeded 5th and 15th respectively, will hone their claycourt games out of the glare of the spotlight that will inevitably find them when they step out on British grass ahead of Wimbledon in a month’s time.

Sam Stosur’s conqueror at last year’s French Open, Gisela Dulko, is the No.17 seed and will meet Serbia’s Vesna Dolonc in her first match, hoping to recapture the form that took her to the fourth round in Paris in 2011.

One of the WTA’s great veterans will also do battle in qualifying. American Jill Craybas, almost 38 years of age and a former top 40 player, is the No.22 seed in the draw. She will take on compatriot Gail Brodsky.