Back in 2007, Simona Halep and Evgeniya Rodina met in the Wimbledon Championships Junior Tournament. Now, eight years later, the two will meet again, this time as professional athletes competing for a slot in the second round of the prestigious Roland Garros tournament. This marks the first time that the two competitors will collide on the professional tour and should make for an interesting start to Halep’s 2015 campaign at the French Open.

Following an excellent start to her 2015 season, which included title wins in Dubai and Indian Wells, and most recently reached the semi-final stage in Miami, Simona Halep was dealt a significant blow when she was ousted from the Madrid Open in her opening round match. She managed to salvage some momentum ahead of the French Open when she worked her way to the semi-final stage in Rome before losing to Carla Suarez Navarro. She is yet to claim a title on clay this season.

Halep will come up against Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina, who has had a turbulent clay court season that included three first round exits (Stuttgart, Marrakech and Renava) and two second round exits. She will look to try her luck at the biggest win of her professional career in an upset win over Halep.

This marks the first time that Halep and Rodina will meet on the professional tour but that does not mean that the two don’t share history together on court. Rodina actually defeated Halep in the third round of the 2007 Wimbledon Junior tournament and will look to relive that moment with a crushing first round upset win against one of the tournament favourites. However, given Halep’s general consistency over the past few months, there is little doubt that the Romanian will advance to the second round.