The umpires refer to her as Madame Henin, which is not strictly correct but accentuates the esteem in which Justine Henin is held in the citadel of Roland Garros. She is, after all, the first lady of clay and, on Saturday, she will attempt to win the French Open for the fourth time and become only the fifth woman to do so.

At the end of last year, Henin’s four-year marriage to Pierre-Yves Hardenne ended and, not for the first time, she had to contend with emotional upheaval on a massive scale, for being the best woman tennis player in the world does not afford much privacy in the matter of familial adversity — the death of her mother when she was 12, alienation from other members of her family and then a marriage dissolution. She has probably never needed tennis as much as she does now.

On Thursday, Henin reached the final in a manner of serene certainty with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Jelena Jankovic, the Serb who bounded from the practice court in the morning just as convinced that she would win.

To lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, Henin will need to defeat another Serb, Ana Ivanovic, who pounded Maria Sharapova into submission, 6-2, 6-1.

The first scoreline did not do justice to Jankovic’s attempt to repel Henin — the second emphasised how sensationally dominant Ivanovic was.

“It was one of the most beautiful, strategically perfect matches Justine has played in the last year,” Carlos Rodriguez, the Belgian’s Argentine an coach, said.

“In the last two matches here (she defeated Serena Williams in straight sets in the quarter finals), her discipline and her tactics have been amazing. There is a passion and determination about her, she loves these tournaments, she loves to win and all the preparation we did for the clay-court season is paying off.”

Rodriguez is not a man to get ahead of himself. He is one of the least demonstrative of those in coaching corner — a slap of the thigh, a pump of fist into palm, a straight-shot look from those big brown eyes — but he knows his charge better than anyone, considering he has been shepherding her from crisis to glory to crisis back to glory for the past 11 years. They have an uncrushable partnership, one stronger than many marriages.

Seeing Henin on court on Thursday was to witness a woman revelling in a space where nothing could touch her, for she was in total command of what she wanted to do and in her ability to succeed. Her tennis was stunning, full of sharp, cutting strokes off both wings and, when required, delightful, pure touches around the net.

ROAD TO FINAL

Justine Henin (1, Bel)

Round I — bt Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-4, 6-3.

Round II — bt Tamira Paszek (Aut) 7-5, 6-1.

Round III — bt Mara Santangelo (28, Ita) 6-2, 6-3.

Round IV — bt Sybille Bammer (20, Aut) 6-2, 6-4.

Quarter finals — bt Serena Williams (8, US) 6-4, 6-3.

Semi-finals — bt Jelena Jankovic (4, Srb) 6-2, 6-2.

Ana Ivanovic (7, Srb)

Round I — bt Sofia Arvidsson (Swe) 6-2, 6-0.

Round II — bt Sania Mirza (Ind) 6-1, 6-4.

Round III — bt Ioana Raluca Olaru (Rom) 6-2, 6-0.

Round IV — bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (24, Esp) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Quarter finals — bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (3, Rus) 6-0, 3-6, 6-1.

Semi finals — bt Maria Sharapova (2, Rus) 6-2, 6-1.