Henman, the ninth seed, clinched an easy 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win over Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela in his quarterfinal while Coria enjoyed a 7-5, 7-6, 6-3 win over Spanish fifth seed and 1998 champion Carlos Moya.

"I imposed my style right from the start and never let him settle," said Henman.

"When you can dictate the match like that, it gives you the best chance to win. I didn't give him the opportunities to play the way he wanted and I made it look relatively straightforward."

Mike Sangster, back in 1963 was the last British man to get to the last four, and should Henman overcome the formidable hurdle of hot favourite Coria, he will be the first Briton in the final since Bunny Austin in 1937.

Fred Perry remains the only British man to have won the French Open in 1935.

Until this year, Henman's best Grand Slam performances had all come on grass at Wimbledon where he has been a semi-finalist four times.

Furthermore, outside of Wimbledon, he had never got beyond the round of 16 in any of the other three Grand Slam events and had never survived the third round in Paris before.

But the 29-year-old, who started this tournament coming back from two sets down in the first round against Cyril Saulnier and saved two match points in his fourth round win over Michael Llodra, served-and-volleyed his way into the history books in the Paris gloom on Tuesday.

Against Chela, the 22nd seeded clay court specialist, he was irresistible with his serve-and-volley game far too polished for Chela's baseline attack.

Coria's win was his 47th in his last 49 matches on clay and gives him the chance to go one better than last year at Roland Garros where he lost his semi-final to Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands.