The Frenchwoman who over the years has been abused and adored in equal measure by her countrymen is one match away from her second French Open title and barely dares allow herself to dream.

"It would be just unbelievable," she said, smiling to the skies after reaching Saturday's final where she will meet Justine Henin-Hardenne.

"I'd probably just sit here and not know what to say...just unbelievable."

Her Belgian opponent is also riding something of a dream in Paris, however, and has her own date with destiny.

Like Pierce, Henin-Hardenne would also appear fated to succeed at Roland Garros, the tournament she won in 2003 and at which she says she feels at home.

"It's a very special atmosphere," the player who was robbed of her world number one ranking last year by an energy-sapping virus said.

"I love this place. I feel I'm playing like at home so it's beautiful.

"And there are a lot of emotions for me here at the French Open. Everybody knows the story -- I'm not going to tell it again.

"But I hope I can win it one more time, that's for sure."

The story she referred to was the touching account of when, as a child, she visited Roland Garros with her mother Francoise and promised her then that she would win the claycourt Grand Slam event one day.

She fulfilled that promise with tears streaming down her face in 2003, after her mother had lost her battle with cancer.

"I would like to dedicate this victory to my mother, who is watching over me in heaven. I hope you are very proud of me, mum," she said after her final win over compatriot Kim Clijsters.

This year her run to the final is nothing short of miraculous, having returned to tennis only in April after a knee fracture.

"It's amazing to reach the final after what's happened to me over the last few months," she said.

Henin-Hardenne, who celebrated her 23rd birthday on Wednesday, has endured three-set marathons in three of her six rounds here and had to save two match points to get past US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the round of 16.

"I am getting tired, I have played a lot of tennis," she said.

"My legs are feeling heavy, my back is not getting any better but it's not getting any worse. I need one more effort and then I will take a rest."

Henin-Hardenne is favourite heading into the final but Pierce believes it may be her fate to triumph a second time in her mother's homeland.

"I believe in myself, and the few people that believe in me that I have in my life have really helped me a lot to get where I am," the 30-year-old said.

"And, you know, that's why I'm here today, it's because I had something inside of me when I had my injuries that was telling me, 'You know, you're not done. There's still something for you to do in tennis, still some things for you to accomplish'.

"I don't know what that meant. I don't still know what that means today. It could be the results on the court, it could be something else."

Born in Canada to an American father and a French mother, Pierce has needed that inner belief throughout her turbulent career.

Early on she suffered the indignity of her father Jim being banned by the WTA Tour for his bad behaviour -- he would sit courtside screaming obscenities throughout her matches.

She was mocked by the French for her American accent and jeered for her preening behaviour.

Still a teenager when she reached her first final at Roland Garros in 1994, her Spanish conqueror Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario was crowd favourite.

But slowly she won over the critical French public and six years later she became the first Frenchwoman to win the tournament since Francoise Durr in 1967 and won the heart of the nation.

Were she to win on Saturday, her place in French sporting history would be sealed.