Dinara Safina has had a lifetime of being known as "Marat Safin's sister" and a couple of months of being "the best player who hasn't won a Grand Slam." Both could end on Saturday.

Of course, Safina will forever be Safin's sibling. But the French Open final is the ultimate opportunity to shine in her own right and lay to waste the critics who suggest the tag of world No.1 should come with an asterisk if its holder has never won a major.

Fighting fit and in the best form of her career, Safina admits that it could take a Slam trophy before she truly feels the shoes of world No.1 fit snugly. Experience counts for much in a final of this magnitude and Safina's seventh-seeded opponent Svetlana Kuznetsova has already won a major, having triumphed in the 2004 U.S. Open as a teenager.

However, Kuznetsova has failed to kick on in the manner that might have been expected from that point, and Safina will go into the final as an overwhelming favorite.

Kuznetsova might have been dumped out in the

The honors board at Roland Garros may well be emblazoned with the names of Roger Federer and Dinara Safina on Sunday night, but that won't even begin to tell the full story.

Whatever the eventual outcome, the French Open has been the tournament of the underdog.

While this Parisian fortnight will not be blessed with a dream men's final of Rafael Nadal vs. Federer, like for the past three years, it has been packed with a constant and enthralling medley of twisting story lines and spectacular subplots.

And though Federer and Safina are now overwhelming favorites to snatch their 14th and first Grand Slam crowns respectively, there is still a chance for the most unlikely of victors in both draws.

Of the eight singles players still in contention, one man and two women enter the semifinals with an opportunity to complete an incredible fairytale run.

Samantha Stosur has been primarily known as a doubles specialist her entire career, yet the Australian has embarked upon a remarkable run through

More than a quarter of a century has passed and the French are getting impatient. With every passing year the hunger for a hometown male hero to win the French Open grows ever stronger. The memories of Yannick Noah's superb triumph in 1983 should have faded by now but remain vivid in Parisian consciousness simply because of France's paucity of men's success ever since.

With a strong powerbase of talent, it was hoped the current crop of challengers could put up a serious fight this year. No other nation has three men near the top of the rankings, or indeed nine in the top 50, yet Wednesday looks likely to signal the end of the local challenge.

Gilles Simon's challenge petered out in the third round in a manner unbefitting the world No. 7, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could not be helped by a partisan home crowd as he bowed out to Juan Martin Del Potro in the last 16. Indeed, the most excitement so far came from unknown Josselin Ouanna, who ousted Marat Safin in a four-and-a-half-hour epic

Roger Federer has never been a player famous for staring into the face of adversity and coming out on top.

There’s one simple reason for that. He has rarely had to.

For half a decade, Federer had his way with world tennis, rarely tested as he marched to a haul of 13 Grand Slam titles.

But over the last couple of years, things have changed. Federer’s dominance has subsided as Rafael Nadal usurped his position as world No.1. Suddenly, Federer looked vulnerable, and on several occasions was unable to raise his game when it was called for.

His mental mettle was questioned and many critics suggested that while the Swiss magician was an outstanding front-runner, he lacked the stomach for a scrap.

However, Federer went a long way towards quashing doubts about his intestinal fortitude on Monday, with his courageous fight back from two sets down against Tommy Haas.

Haas turned back the clock with some inspired play in the first two sets and it looked as if Federer could crumble into the Paris

Andy Roddick's victory at the 2003 U.S. Open accomplished two things. First, it quieted the critics who questioned whether the American would ever be able to put together a solid two weeks of tennis and win a major. (Such discussion always seemed a bit ridiculous, seeing as how Roddick still wasn't of legal drinking age when that tournament began.) Second, it established him as tennis' next big thing.

At that point, Roddick and Roger Federer owned the same amount of major titles and it seemed likely that the two would make-up the next great rivalry in tennis. Instead, Federer won 12 of the next 16 majors, establishing himself as one of the all-time greats. And when a challenger finally did arise it wasn't Roddick, but a Spainard named Rafael Nadal.

Now, as Roddick has been bumped from another major, that old question is starting to get asked again (albeit with a minor twist): Will Andy Roddick ever win another major?

If it does happen, it almost assuredly won't be at the French.

There are three rules that matter in tennis. The balls are yellow, it always rains at Wimbledon and, most importantly, Rafael Nadal wins the French Open.

Well, maybe it's time for fluorescent green tennis balls and a sweltering British summer because Sunday saw the biggest Grand Slam shock for years at Roland Garros.

Nadal, the undisputed world No. 1, so dominant on clay that he had never lost a single match at the French, was bundled out in the last 16 by unheralded Swede Robin Soderling.

And suddenly, there is a tournament.

Nadal's superiority on the Paris dirt was such that his fifth straight title here was considered a foregone conclusion.

Who could blame observers for metaphorically etching the Spaniard's name on the trophy once more, given his remarkable record and his utter destruction of Roger Federer in the 2008 final?

But Soderling, an enigmatic player who currently sits at 25 in the rankings, refused to listen to the naysayers and put together a masterpiece of a match.

Serena Williams says she doesn't want to be a drama queen. She's got an interesting way of showing it.

In a third-round victory Saturday over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, the 10-time Grand Slam champion was part of a bizarre sequence that contributed to a first-set loss. Williams then bashed her opponent's sportsmanship in a postmatch press conference.

With the score tied 2-2, Martinez Sanchez had a break point on Williams' serve. Following a brief rally, Martinez Sanchez approached the net after a drop shot, which Williams promptly slammed back over the net, directly at Martinez Sanchez. In what appeared to be the natural reflex of seeing an object hurtling toward your face at 100 mph, Martina Sanchez raised her hands in self defense. The ball ricocheted off something (either a racket or a forearm) and bounced back on Williams' side of the court for the winner. (Here's a clip of the point in question.)

The chair umpire awarded the point to Martinez Sanchez under the assumption that

It could be his rigorous preseason fitness regime that saw him shed 15 pounds. It could be a fortunate draw. Or a general sense of well-being following his nuptials. Whatever it is, something has cured Andy Roddick of his French Open phobia and turned him into a threat on clay.

Roddick reached the round of 16 in Paris for the first time in eight attempts Saturday, racing past Marc Gicquel 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 for his third consecutive straight-sets victory.

But the 26-year-old American isn't going to win the tournament, barring a miracle of epic proportions. Even getting past his next opponent, Frenchman Gael Monfils, would be a tremendous achievement, and the dubious prize for that would be a likely showdown with Roger Federer. However, Roddick's performance in Paris can be taken as a highly positive sign for the state of his mind and his game going into his favorite part of the season -- on grass.

Roddick's physical reserves appear to be higher than at any point of his career, and the hard