How Maria Sharapova Proved She's Nothing To Sneeze At In Paris

— -- PARIS -- Much has been made about Roland Garros being Rafael Nadal's personal kingdom. And justifiably so. He's won nine titles here, has lost only one match on these courts and is gunning for an unprecedented 10th French Open title. Rafa is the king, even if Novak Djokovic is preparing torches, crossbows and a catapult to storm the castle.

Meanwhile, over on the women's side, Maria Sharapova appears to be near the head of the line to be queen. Well, just so long as someone else can personally escort Serena Williams from the principality before the final (good luck).

While she used to struggle on clay, Sharapova has lost only one match at Roland Garros since 2012, going 23-1 here since then with two titles and her only loss coming in the 2013 final against (who else?) her personal nemesis, Serena. That's nowhere close to Rafa's 68-1, nine-title record, but it's still pretty impressive. She continued her dominance on a breezy Friday when she beat Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round.

Sharapova has been dealing with an annoying cold this week that has left her coughing almost as often as grunting and also has forced her to put her dress aside for a skirt and a long-sleeved top to stay warmer.

"I'm getting better. I might not sound like it, but I am,'' she said, adding later, "I have never felt like that on the court playing a Grand Slam, so this is kind of new. I'm just trying to do the best that I can with the circumstances.''

When she finally won, Sharapova looked a little more emotional than usual. "Considering the start of the week was really tough and I knew I had a tough opponent, I just wanted to be as ready as I could,'' she said. "I was really happy to win it.''

While Stosur had been on a bit of a roll -- she won in Strasbourg last week and destroyed her second-round opponent -- the odds still were stacked against her Friday. In addition to Sharapova's play here, Stosur is 2-15 in career matchups against the Russian. Stosur had her opportunities, but her shots simply were off. Which isn't good when you're playing the likes of Sharapova.

"Today is a match where I felt really good going into it, and I'm just incredibly angry with myself right now that I wasn't able to do more and give myself more of a chance,'' Stosur said. "It was all round a bit sloppy.''

Neither player was that great Friday -- Sharapova, who next plays 13th-seeded Lucie Safarova, double-faulted six times and Stosur five times.

"Today it wasn't like she played great tennis that beat me,'' Stosur said. "Unfortunately, I let a few other things annoy me. But she does have a very good record [here], and I guess we'll see [if that] record continues or doesn't.''