Capriati holds the aces

Last year Kim Clijsters and Jennifer Capriati lost in the first round at Roland Garros. Unknown to the players who beat them, Fabiola Zuluaga and Ai Sugiyama, they played their part in a little slice of tennis history. Never before have two first-round losers returned the next year to contest the final as the American and Belgian are doing today.

For Capriati, it will be her chance to become the fifth player to follow on from the Australian Open with a win on the terre battu. Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, Steffi Graf, and most recently, Monica Seles in 1992, have managed both in the one calender year.

However, from Capriati's perspective the chance to become the only American success since Chris Evert defeated Martina Navratilova in 1986 may well have a stronger resonance given that Evert and Navratilova were her childhood idols.

Clijsters hopes to become the first Belgian winner and she also marks a first in tennis history by even appearing in the final. She joins a list of 22 nations who have had Grand Slam finalists, including Ireland's Mabel Cahill, who won the 1891 US Championships.

By some margin, Capriati enters the match as favourite, not only because of seeding of four to Clijsters' 14, but also due to the way she has been able to overpower her opponents.

Serena Williams and Martina Hingis, both of whom she defeated on the way to the final, are no shrinking violets. Hingis also pointed out that Capriati was currently the best player in the world.

"I guess it's been a long time. I never knew since the semi-finals when I got here when I was 14, if it would ever come again. It wasn't looking that way a few years ago," said Capriati after the semi-final.

"I will look at Kim as being a very tough opponent. I'm going to have to be playing my best tennis."

Clijsters durability was evident against Justine Henin in the semifinal. The teenager was a set adrift and 4-1 down in the second set before coming back to win the match in three. That takes a good head as well as tennis ability and for a player whose 18th birthday was yesterday, it is even more telling.

"In tennis you always have a chance, even if you are match points down. You always have a chance to come back and still win the match. Tennis can be a weird sport sometimes," said Clijsters.

That is an important principle she may need to carry with her today if she is to trip Capriati.