PARIS, June 4: Saturday's first all-Russian Grand Slam women's singles final between Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva at the French Open ushers in a new era in world tennis.

With six players in the top 20 and 10 in the top 50, Russia is rapidly taking over from the United States as the predominant force in the sport. Myskina and Dementieva are spearheading that revolution.

On Saturday one will become the first Russian woman to win a Grand Slam. Myskina, who on Monday will move up to world number three behind Belgians Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters irrespective of Saturday's result, believes this explosion of talent can be traced back to one person - former president Boris Yeltsin who championed tennis during the 1990s.

On Saturday Yeltsin will take his place in the stands at the Roland Garros centre court. Yeltsin phoned both players on Thursday to congratulate them and tell them he would make the trip to the French capital.

Myskina knows how much she, and her fellow Russians, owe Yeltsin. "He changed everything, he brought tennis up from nowhere," she says. "He's kind of our grandpa." Dementieva is more enigmatic when asked why the Russians are dominating women's tennis.

"It's a phenomenon of Russian woman, you know," she smiles. "We are very strong and, you know, we are trying our best." In this week's WTA rankings, there are six Russians and five Americans in the top 20 - a statistic unthinkable even a year ago.

It is a remarkable growth in influence unrivalled in recent women's tennis history. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario led a mini-Spanish assault on the rankings in the 1990s and Steffi Graf was supported by fellow Germans Claudia Kohde-Kilsch and Anke Huber.

Otherwise, apart from a spell in the mid-1990s when France could muster four of the top 10 women, it's been America versus the rest. While the Cold War raged, Soviet women players were a rarity - Dementieva's coach Olga Morozova in the 1970s and Natasha Zvereva in the 1980s were the only ones to make their mark until the Berlin Wall came down and Anna Kournikova arrived.

While Yeltsin's support was vital, Kournikova's appearance in the Wimbledon semifinals in 1997, aged 16, convinced a lot of Russian parents that tennis offered their children a path to financial security. Kournikova, now 22, has become something of a figure of fun because of her love of the spotlight and her inability to win a WTA title. -Reuters