Bjorn Borg won a record six French Opens

The Spaniard, meanwhile, is looking for his first Grand Slam title, and is hoping to go one better than in 1998, when he lost here in the final to Carlos Moya in straight sets.

"At that time it was my first final, against a friend," said Corretja. "Maybe I wasn't too focused on that match. But after two days, I realized how bad it was losing that."

But Kuerten is the world's top player, and will be a strong favourite to inflict another final defeat on Corretja.

However both are experts on clay, so it's likely to be a war of attrition and not a quick-fire win for either player.

If recent history is anything to go by, the omens are not good for the Spaniard - the pair have met six times, all on clay, and Kuerten has taken the last four in a row.

The last three have come in Rome and the Brazilian has won each match in straight sets.

"Always in Rome," is Corretja's response. "This is Roland Garros - I hope it's going to be a different story."

Corretja has found a vein of form at Roland Garros - he has not lost a set since the first round - but it must be taken into account that he did not meet a seeded player until the semi-finals when he beat Sebastien Grosjean.

Corretja is looking for his first Grand Slam title

Kuerten, on the other hand, has had a much tougher run, needing five sets to get past Michael Russell in the last 16, and four to take care of Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the quarter-finals.

The Brazilian had to save a match point to beat Russell, and were he to win, it would be only the second time in the open era, and the first in 25 years, that someone has gone on to claim the title after doing so.

He says that he now feels blessed, and has nothing to lose, and he certainly played like that in his incredible semi-final win over Juan Carlos Ferrero which he described as "almost perfect".

Few would argue with that.

"It was good for me that I had a tougher round in the middle than at the end of the tournament," said Guga of his near miss against Russell.

"I think I'm going to be ready to fight for four or five sets," he added.

If Kuerten can produce the form that he showed in his semi-final win over Ferrero, it is unlikely that he will need to.