Dinara Safina has had a lifetime of being known as "Marat Safin's sister" and a couple of months of being "the best player who hasn't won a Grand Slam." Both could end on Saturday.

Of course, Safina will forever be Safin's sibling. But the French Open final is the ultimate opportunity to shine in her own right and lay to waste the critics who suggest the tag of world No.1 should come with an asterisk if its holder has never won a major.

Fighting fit and in the best form of her career, Safina admits that it could take a Slam trophy before she truly feels the shoes of world No.1 fit snugly. Experience counts for much in a final of this magnitude and Safina's seventh-seeded opponent Svetlana Kuznetsova has already won a major, having triumphed in the 2004 U.S. Open as a teenager.

However, Kuznetsova has failed to kick on in the manner that might have been expected from that point, and Safina will go into the final as an overwhelming favorite.

Kuznetsova might have been dumped out in the

The honors board at Roland Garros may well be emblazoned with the names of Roger Federer and Dinara Safina on Sunday night, but that won't even begin to tell the full story.

Whatever the eventual outcome, the French Open has been the tournament of the underdog.

While this Parisian fortnight will not be blessed with a dream men's final of Rafael Nadal vs. Federer, like for the past three years, it has been packed with a constant and enthralling medley of twisting story lines and spectacular subplots.

And though Federer and Safina are now overwhelming favorites to snatch their 14th and first Grand Slam crowns respectively, there is still a chance for the most unlikely of victors in both draws.

Of the eight singles players still in contention, one man and two women enter the semifinals with an opportunity to complete an incredible fairytale run.

Samantha Stosur has been primarily known as a doubles specialist her entire career, yet the Australian has embarked upon a remarkable run through

More than a quarter of a century has passed and the French are getting impatient. With every passing year the hunger for a hometown male hero to win the French Open grows ever stronger. The memories of Yannick Noah's superb triumph in 1983 should have faded by now but remain vivid in Parisian consciousness simply because of France's paucity of men's success ever since.

With a strong powerbase of talent, it was hoped the current crop of challengers could put up a serious fight this year. No other nation has three men near the top of the rankings, or indeed nine in the top 50, yet Wednesday looks likely to signal the end of the local challenge.

Gilles Simon's challenge petered out in the third round in a manner unbefitting the world No. 7, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could not be helped by a partisan home crowd as he bowed out to Juan Martin Del Potro in the last 16. Indeed, the most excitement so far came from unknown Josselin Ouanna, who ousted Marat Safin in a four-and-a-half-hour epic