Over the last 110 years, the French Open has become one of the most romantic international tennis championships in the world.

The sport itself was imported from England at the end of the 19th century and rapidly grew in popularity, with a one-day national championship established in 1891.

The inaugural winner at the Stade Francais club in Paris was an Englishman, recorded only as H. Briggs, while Fran�oise Masson won the first ladies competition in 1897.

But the championships lacked the prestige of having the world's best players taking on the home stars, a problem that was comprehensively resolved when it became an international event in 1925.

Golden era

The tournament's resumption following the First World War witnessed the birth of a golden era in French tennis.

The Davis Cup success of the French Musketeers, Jacques Brugnon, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and Ren� Lacoste over America in 1927 required a new stadium to be built to host the following year's return tie.

So, having alternated between the Racing Club at Croix-Catelan and Stade Francais' courts at the Faisanderie in St Cloud's Park, the championships found their spiritual home at the Porte D'Auteuil.

Housed on a three-hectare site provided by the city of Paris, the arena was named after France's heroic wartime aviator, Roland Garros, with Cochet winning the first men's title on the new Centre Court in 1928.

The championships were dominated by American and Australian players following the Second World War, with French names rarely featuring on the roll of honour.

Among them were teenage prodigies Australian Ken Rosewall and American Maureen Connolly, who swept all before them in 1953.

Another landmark was reached in 1956, when Althea Gibson became the first African-American player to win a Grand Slam event, defeating Angela Mortimer in her only appearance at the tournament.

Going open

Amid the militant uprising and strikes taking hold of the nation, the clay court championships opened its doors to professionalism in 1968 and, 15 years after winning his first title, Rosewall became the first to claim the French Open's 15,000 francs prize money.

Borg's record-breaking six titles between 1974 and 1981, were only bettered by Evert's seventh in 1986.

Evert's battles with Martina Navratilova were true classics, but the home nation's attention was on Yannick Noah, whose success in 1983 ended France's 37-year wait for a champion.

In 1989, an diminutive American by the name of Michael Chang became the youngest men's singles winner at 17 years three months.

Another record came the following year, when Monica Seles took the first of her three successive women's titles at the age of 16 and a half.

Another teenager, world number one, Martina Hingis, bore the brunt of the Roland Garros fervour when she served underarm to Steffi Graf in the 1999 final.

Graf went on to win the championship, her last before bowing out of the game and Hingis was booed off Centre Court.

The following day, Andre Agassi crowned a comeback from a slump in his career to win the title and become the fifth player to do so at each of the four Grand Slams.

As the French Open heads into the third millennium with a three-year refurbishment project that began straight after the 1999 championships, it was fitting that Mary Pierce should chose last year to become the first French women since Fran�oise Durr in 1967 to win the Suzanne Lenglen Cup.

Pierce joins Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten as the reigning champions going into the 2001 championships.