Fourth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne shocked defending champion and top seed Serena Williams 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in an epic 2hr 20min semi-final to book a meeting with fellow Belgian and second seed Kim Clijsters in the French Open women's singles final.
Clijsters earlier beat unseeded Russian Nadia Petrova 7-5, 6-1. Henin threw up her arms in the air in triumph as she won an enthralling contest by holding to love after a see-saw decider when Williams drove wide.
The American then drew a hail of booing from a crowd which had been against her throughout as she gave her conqueror the briefest of handshakes at the end.
"The level of the match was very, very high - though I briefly panicked at the idea of winning. But I believed in myself and took it point by point as I kept my focus," said Henin-Hardenne, scoring her third career win over the outgoing champion.
"Serena can be very intimidating - it was tough to serve out - at 4-2 down in the third I had some doubts - but it's so good to be into my first final here. I am very happy, It's an emotional moment - I'll have to get my energy back for Saturday!
"It was a wonderful atmosphere - there were so many Belgians here and the French fans were behind me too."
Earlier, A large slice of luck sent Kim Clijsters skipping into her second French Open final. The Belgian second seed beat Russian Nadia Petrova 7-5 6-1 to move within one match of her maiden grand slam crown.
The pair had been neck-and-neck throughout the first set before a Clijsters shot slapped into the net cord as unseeded Petrova held set point.
The ball hovered on top of the net before dribbling on to the Russian's side. Clijsters was off the hook, Petrova was demoralised and from then on the match went the Belgian's way.
"Those things can definitely turn matches around," she smiled as she left the court. "Once I broke her back I felt really confident I could do it."
Petrova was trying to become the first Russian to reach a grand slam final since Olga Morozova did so here and at Wimbledon in 1974.