This Is a city redolent of past glories but also at ease with the new. Roland Garros has readily embraced the teenage flair of Martina Hingis, the Williams sisters, and Anna Kournikova, marvelling at their audacity and determination. But yesterday the centre court joyously celebrated the return to prominence of their erstwhile champion when Monica Seles routed Hingis 6-3, 6-2 to reach the French Open final.
Seles ruled the women's tennis world between 1990 and April 1993 until she was stabbed in the back during a tournament in Hamburg. Before this horrific incident she had won eight Grand Slam titles, including three successive French Opens, and replaced Germany's Steffi Graf as the world number one.
It took Seles 27 months to recover and it was not until 1996 that she added a ninth Grand Slam title, the Australian Open. Even then her travails were not done, for her father, Karolj, had been diagnosed with cancer in 1993, and eventually died three weeks ago.
"During the last years I was never really content with any decision I made," said Seles who, because of her father's declining health, had understandably been reluctant to travel, and this year has played very little.
"I wasn't that confident in my game coming into the French Open," said Seles. But what she finally did have, with the passing of her father, was peace of mind. Her mother, Ester, came with her to Paris, together with her new Australian coach, Gavin Hopper, who has trimmed down her weight and re-kindled her tennis appetite.
Hingis, who lost the final last year to Croatia's Iva Majoli, was clearly rattled by the power and penetration of Seles's shots. The grunt is back to full velocity too.
As usual the Swiss number one was gracious in defeat, accepting that the Yugoslav-born American had been the better player. Yet rarely in a major match can Hingis have made so many unforced errors.
She had probably regarded her quarter-final against Venus Williams as the "final", and simply could not respond yesterday. Hingis had won all their previous five meetings, including last year's three-set semi-final here, after which Seles said poignantly: "I just don't have the strength and intensity anymore."
This victory will make Seles, to say nothing of her opponents, reassess her place among the teenies, adding extra spice to the women's game which is currently far more exciting and vibrant than the men's.
When Seles broke the Hingis serve to take a 3-2 first set lead, and then hold her own - two games which contained seven deuces and any number of brilliantly constructed, tenaciously fought points by both players - the only question was whether the American, seeded six, could sustain this level of ferocity.
The Roland Garros crowd were certainly on her side, and there were groans when Hingis took a 10 lead in the second set, Seles losing her serve for the first time. It was a temporary lapse and, anyway, Seles was now crushing the Hingis serve at will.
By the close Hingis's play had taken on an almost desultory air. "Maybe I put a little too much pressure on myself. I really wanted to win the tournament," said Hingis who was looking to win her fourth successive Grand Slam here, and her first French.
In tomorrow's final Seles plays Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario who beat Lindsay Davenport of the US 6-3, 7-6 in an earlier semifinal of quite lamentable, error strewn tennis that was mercifully superseded by the Seles victory.
Venus and Serena Williams, eliminated in the women's singles earlier this week, will still come face to face in a final - the mixed doubles final.
The 17-year-old Venus, playing alongside Justin Gimelstob, defeated fellow Americans Kristine Kunce and Francisco Montana 62, 6-3 in the first semi-final. They now play 16-year-old Serena and Luis Lobo of Argentina for the title.
Serena and Lobo put out tenth-seeded Australians Rachel McQuillan and David Macpherson 6-1, 6-0.
