Tournament favourite Justine Henin-Hardenne and crowd favourite Mary Pierce set up a mouth-watering French Open final with crushing wins on Thursday.
Pierce, bathed in French adoration, overwhelmed Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-1, while Henin also outclassed a Russian opponent as she beat Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-3 in another one-sided semi-final.
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"It's incredible," the 30-year-old laughed. "I have shocked myself... I'm so happy."
If her run to the final has been stupendous, victory in Saturday's showpiece would be little short of miraculous.
She will be up against an opponent, however, whose status as favourite was further underlined against Petrova.
The Belgian dynamo outgunned her seventh-seeded opponent to notch up her 23rd consecutive victory and reach her second Roland Garros final.
"I've got a lot of memories... a lot of emotions here," the 2003 French Open champion said. "It feels a little like being at home."
Petrova was simply overwhelmed.
"I don't see anybody winning this tournament except Justine," she said.
Nobody, however, had expected Pierce to win it five years ago when she knocked out Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Conchita Martinez to double her Grand Slam haul.
For once the French-speaking Henin will not have the crowd on her side and Pierce is playing on adrenaline.
SUPERIOR POWER
On Thursday she was irresistible, rolling back the years to smash Likhovtseva off court.
She pummelled groundstrokes, crunched serves, flighted delicate drop shots and ghosted volleys.
Likhovtseva, the 16th seed, withered in the face of Pierce's superior power and determination, bowing out after just 58 minutes when the Frenchwoman fired a forehand winner on her first match point.
Pierce skipped across the court and applauded the crowd who screamed their joy and rose to their feet in an emotional and rousing scene.
"Unbelievable... it's a fantastic feeling. I'm very happy. Very excited. What can I say? It's just fantastic.
"I've worked very hard. I believe in myself and the few people that believe in me that I have in my life have really helped me a lot to get where I am."
Henin was equally impressive.
The former world number one was robbed of her top ranking by an energy-sapping viral illness last year and only returned to tennis at the end of March after recovering from a knee fracture.
She has lost just one match since, however, winning three warm-up events on clay before arriving in Paris.
"It would be great for me to finish the season unbeaten on clay," Henin smiled.
Petrova was the 10th seed's third straight Russian victim after Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.
As the sun beat down on the Roland Garros centre court the seventh seed never stood a chance.
After exchanging early breaks, Henin turned up the power to put Petrova under pressure.
Midway through the opening set the Russian began to unravel, gesturing wildly to the crowd, shrugging her shoulders and looking to the skies.
DISINTEGRATING GROUNDSTROKES
No number of air-shots performed after each miscued forehand seemed to improve her disintegrating groundstrokes as Henin turned the screw.
She broke for a third time to lead 5-2. Two set points went by the wayside before she converted her third, smacking a backhand off the back foot to Petrova's forehand which was seemingly sucked into the net.
The error was accompanied by a pumped fist and a cry of "allez" as the Belgian took one step into the final.
Henin broke Petrova in the seventh game of the second set and raised her arms in triumph two games later when Petrova dropped serve again.
"I was very determined, I was patient and I was aggressive when I needed to be," the Belgian said.
"I'm very satisfied. I'm getting a bit tired but I keep winning and that's a good feeling."
