Kristina Mladenovic and Laura Siegemund are playing superb tennis this week in Stuttgart, but it would be a fantastic showpiece for women’s tennis if two of the WTA’s biggest stars, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep, contested the final on Sunday. It would be their first meeting on clay since the 2014 French Open final – and a great chance for the Romanian to get the better of the Russian for the first time in her career.

With Serena Williams absent from the tour and Angelique Kerber off-form, it could also be the first step in Sharapova and Halep’s domination of the 2017 clay season. Both women have excellent career records on the surface and will be strong favorites in almost every match they play between now and the French Open.

While it is no surprise to be mentioning Halep in a discussion of potential title winners during the clay swing, such possibilities would have been difficult to imagine in the case of Sharapova before her comeback this week. However, she has demonstrated such impressive form in her three matches so far that is hard not to consider her as a major contender in Madrid, Rome and perhaps even Roland Garros.

It could be argued that the Russian was lucky to receive a kind draw in Stuttgart, but it is never easy to win three matches in straight sets after so long away from competitive tennis. It takes a lot of ability, a lot of character and a lot of self-belief and Sharapova has this week demonstrated an abundance of all three – as she has so many times in her career.

By contrast, Halep was set what looked like a relatively tricky task in her opening match when she was drawn to face Barbora Strycova. But the Romanian made it look easy, dismissing her Czech opponent in straight sets to move on to a quarter-final against Johanna Konta’s conqueror, Anastasija Sevastova. And Halep won that encounter even more comfortably than her first as she brushed aside the Latvian 6-3 6-1 in just 59 minutes.

Those victories, which follow two impressive wins for Romania against Great Britain in the Fed Cup last weekend, suggest Halep is already back in the kind of clay-court form which saw her storm to the Madrid Open title last year. If she can beat in-form Siegemund in the semi-final, then Sharapova or Mladenovic in the final, she will arguably make herself favorite to win this year’s French Open. And if she also retains her title in Madrid, such a status seems guaranteed.

However, these potential future triumphs for Sharapova and Halep will seem far less likely if they lose their semi-final matches in Stuttgart. And it is certainly possible that they will, as their opponents are in excellent form and capable of challenging anyone on tour on their day. Some of Mladenovic’s game – her big serve and powerful forehand – resembles Sharapova’s, so the winner could simply be the player who executes their shots more effectively. And Siegemund is multi-talented and throws all sorts of variations at her opponents, so Halep will need to be at her defensive best to deal with her.

If the Russian and Romanian superstars meet in the Stuttgart final, fans could witness an all-time classic match. Or they could see one player produce a virtuoso performance to beat the other. They might see Halep’s first victory against Sharapova, or the Russian’s seventh successive win over the Romanian. But whatever the eventual result, it would likely be an amazing spectacle. They just have to win their semi-finals now to set it up.