Williams duo set for early tie

Paris - Serena Williams is set for a third round clash with sister Venus following Friday's draw for the French Open.

The defending champion and top seed will open her 13th campaign at Roland Garros with a match against young French wildcard Alize Lim, while Venus, who has never won in Paris and went out in the first round last year, starts against Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.

If she makes it through to the last eight, The American's opponent could be seventh seed Maria Sharapova who she beat in last year's final. The Russian was the French Open champion the previous year and is seeded seventh this year.

Potential semi-final opponents include third seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who took Serena to three sets in the 2012 Wimbledon final or big-hitting German Angelique Kerber.

The bottom half of the draw sees second seed and 2011 French Open champion Li Na of China get things underway with a tie against France's Kristina Mladenovic, the junior champion at Roland Garros in 2009.

Li, the champion in Paris three years ago, is facing a quarter-final matchup against Serb veteran Jelena Jankovic, with Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and rising Romanian Simona Halep looming as potential rivals in the semi-finals.