We now know the women's finalists in the French Open which will be played early on Saturday afternoon. It is such an appealing prospect that even the Parisians might limit their lunch to just two courses, in order to catch the real entree of the day.

Justine Henin is the overwhelming favourite and is looking for her third straight title - something only Monica Seles (1990-92) has done since the 1930s. Henin already has three French Open crowns, having won in 2003, 2005 and 2006 - and has won an incredible 33 sets in a row at Roland Garros. She has not even been taken to a tie-break in any of those, only giving up five games in four sets.

She is very much the darling of the crowd, who love her like one of their own, coming as she does from the French-speaking region of Belgium.

Henin has had a very complex personal life. Losing her mother at age 12 and an older sister in a car accident, the strong-willed Belgian spent years in conflict with her father and lived alone from her mid-teens. The pair have only recently been reconciled, following the break-up of her marriage. Add to the mix, five Grand Slam titles and you will understand that 'JuJu' has packed a lot into her 25 years. If she were American, the TV movie would already have been made.

Given all this turmoil, probably the only place that Henin feels truly comfortable is on the tennis court, where she exudes calm and tranquillity. The odd 'fist pump' aside, she rarely shows much emotion.

She is blessed with a dream of a backhand that all-time great John McEnroe is in awe of, plus a big serve that belies her diminutive stature. Henin is the complete package and it will take a superhuman effort to prise the title from her grasp.

That task has been left to Ana Ivanovic, the 19-year-old Serbian and last of the 127 challengers for Queen JuJu's crown. Ivanovic is at the forefront of the Serbian invasion, a group of young players led by her, Jelena Jankovic and Novak Djokovic, who have taken tennis by storm this year and look set to challenge for titles for many years to come.

She has had a wonderful spring, taking a major title in Berlin, and is on a roll of 12 straight wins on red clay. She breezed through her semi-final in double- quick time, taking just 65 minutes to defeat Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1. The statuesque Russian was never at the races, hitting far too many unforced errors.

It is unthinkable that Henin would ever put in such an inept performance and surely all the mental strain, which will build up over two days and more importantly, two long nights, will be on Ivanovic.