TENNIS: Rather than heartily cheering the winner, the Roland Garros crowd lugubriously watched the tall splash of fuchsia stride across the Centre Court for the last time yesterday as Nicole Vaidisova departed the stage as all great divas do, in tears.

The 17-year-old who had been sprung from Nick Bollettieri's Florida boot camp and released into the main draw with a pair of platinum mesh Tiffany ear rings and a six-foot frame had a growing fan base, as much, it should be said, for her continuation of the glamour line of recent years that has run from Anna Kournikova to Maria Sharapova and now includes the young Czech player.

The tears were as much for how Vaidisova lost in three sets to Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova as for the intense disappointment of not realising her dream. The teenager was a set up and serving for the match at 5-4 when the Parisian fairytale began to turn decidedly gothic. From there on spectating became almost voyeuristic.

Instead of steadying and serving as she had been doing with splendid effect, Vaidisova dropped serve right there before losing the second set on a tiebreak, having fought from two points down to level at 5-5.

Far from regaining the equilibrium and poise she had demonstrated for most of the match, the youngster simply collapsed in the third set. The more desperate she became to thump her way back into contention the more errant was her accuracy and pace as she fell 5-7, 7-6, 6-2.

In those moments, the 16th seed might well have experienced what Amelie Mauresmo had endured only four days previously after Vaidisova went to work on the world number one with similarly ruthless intent. As if to hammer home the point, the 2004 US Open winner aced her with the final ball of the match.

"Even if you are 5-4 up serving you are still so far from winning it," said Vaidisova by way of putting an acceptable face on what happened.

"She started getting her rhythm back on and I had a bad serving game. In the third (set) she just played better. She was fighting for every point. I don't think I had much chances."

The teenager, who had only ever been to the second round of a Grand Slam before, had shown both sides of her tennis nature early in the match.

In those opening exchanges, her "No Tomorrow" forehands were less consistent than against Venus Williams in the quarterfinal and the impression she gave was that if her Russian opponent stayed in the point long enough, the tennis prodigy would either blaze a winner or fire it two feet outside the baseline.

Physically, the two were polar opposites. With Kuznetsova's family lineage rooted in cycling (father Alexandr coached six Olympic champions), her robust, bustling style against the rangy shot-maker provided quite a contrast.

Whether that durable pugnacity will be enough against two-time Roland Garros winner Justin Henin-Hardenne, will be known tomorrow.

Henin-Hardenne not only beat compatriot Kim Clijsters in two sets, she would have also forced her, on the day of her 23rd birthday, to consider whether she will ever be able to win in Paris, despite having reaching the final twice.

The two had played each other 17 times at tour level before, with Clijsters winning 10. She also went into the match seeded two to Henin-Hardenne's five and as the reigning US Open champion.

Even though Clijster's form coming into the tournament had been erratic on clay, yesterday's contest lasted just 69 minutes.

So dominant was Henin-Hardenne and so far short of genuinely contesting the match was Clijsters, the outcome was writ large as soon as three of the first four games were dropped in the second set.

The fight and tenacity that illuminated Clijsters' early work at Roland Garros was largely undermined in the 6-3, 6-2 submission, but she refused to carry the disappointment further than the Roland Garros gates.

"It's disappointing. Especially straight after the match when they put a camera in you face, it's not always easy. But then, you know, 15 minutes afterwards, I had a shower and it's all done."

And so it is, the Russian eighth seed against the Belgian fifth in the French Open final.

No doubt Kuznetsova will have heard Clijsters' assessment of Henin-Hardenne's game.

"I think she is by far the best clay court player. You hit two or three winners against her and they just keep coming back."