Ashleigh Barty is drawing inspiration from clay-court trailblazer Samantha Stosur as she braces for a potential blockbuster French Open showdown with Serena Williams.
Australia's top-ranked player will open against Russia's world No.81 Natalia Vikhlyantseva, with the victor facing the prospect of running into Williams in the 23-times major winner's long-awaited grand slam comeback.
A three-time champion in Paris, Williams was controversially overlooked for a seeding this year after arriving as the world No.453 following the birth of her first child last September.
The American superstar was pitted against big-serving Czech Kristyna Pliskova in the first round at Friday's draw, with Barty, the 17th seed, likely to be lying in wait in round two.
Despite growing in confidence after living up to her top seeding to reach the semi-finals of the Strasbourg International, Barty admits she's "still learning" the tricks of clay-court tennis ahead of Sunday's Open start.
But the 22-year-old is thankful to have a master close at hand.
Stosur won just one match in her first four visits to Roland Garros before finding her feet on clay with a breakout semi-final run in 2009.
She then conquered Williams en route to the 2010 final before making the last four on three more occasions.
"Sam has set the tone for all Australian tennis for so many years, especially on the women's side. She's the ultimate professional," Barty said after her 7-5 6-4 quarter-final win over Qiang Wang in Strasbourg.
"Obviously she's very had good success at the French Open and on clay throughout her career and I know she's very comfortable on this surface.
"I'm still learning. This is my first full clay-court season.
"But playing a full season, I feel more and more comfortable on it every day and, if I play the right way, I can do it well on it."
Stosur launches her 15th Roland Garros campaign against Yanina Wickmayer, with third-seeded 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza or 2009 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova looming as possible third-round obstacles.
Australian No.2 Daria Gavrilova plays Sorana Cirstea, while Ajla Tomljanovic has a daunting first-round assignment against fourth seed Elina Svitolina.
Wildcard playoff winner Isabelle Wallace will make her French Open debut against Alison Van Uytvanck.
Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson fared best among the six Australians in the men's event, both drawing qualifiers.
Kyrgios or Thompson could potentially play Bernard Tomic, the last Aussie survivor in qualifying following Lizette Cabrera's elimination on Friday.
James Duckworth has a show-court date with third seed Marin Cilic, the 2018 Australian Open runner-up to Roger Federer, while Alex de Minaur plays Britain's 16th seed and Melbourne Park semi-finalist Kyle Edmund.
John Millman takes on Canadian young gun Denis Shapovalov, with Matt Ebden squaring off with Thomas Fabbiano.
Tomic faces Portugal's Goncalo Oliveira on Friday night hoping to make it six Australians in the 128-man main draw.
