Serena intent on extending 100 percent record over Safina

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PARIS, June 3 (Reuters) Dinara Safina will find herself in the firing line when she faces Serena Williams in the fourth round of the French Open today.

The Russian 10th seed has never beaten the Australian Open champion in two previous meetings and with Williams prowling around Roland Garros with a menacing look in her eyes, Safina will do well not to wilt under pressure.

Just as Williams finds herself the sole American survivor in Paris, Marion Bartoli will want to keep alive home interest following the exits of fifth seed Amelie Mauresmo and Olivier Patience.

The Frenchwoman, however, will do well if she can find a way round in-form Serbian fourth seed Jelena Jankovic.

World number one Justine Henin, seeking a hat-trick of titles, has not dropped a set here since 2005 and should be able to preserve that run against Austrian 20th seed Sybille Bammer.

Roger Federer has enjoyed the slower-than-usual conditions -- thanks to the heavy downpours during the first week of the tournament -- but will have to readjust his game today as the surface has become slicker following a sunny spell.

His opponent Mikhail Youzhny's main concern, however, will be to find a way to overturn a 9-0 record against the world number one.

Also in action will be Russian seeds Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and last year's semi-finalist Nicole Vaidisova from the Czech Republic.

Reuters SSC GC1118