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The message is quite simple: the Russians are coming

They started out at Roland Garros with 12 players in the first round, now there are two -- in the final.

The presence of Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva in the French Open finale is likely to spur more and more young Russian girls to take up a racquet as a means of making an attractive living.

Both of today's finalists are 22, veterans compared to 17-year-old prospects Maria Sharapova, who reached the quarterfinals here, and Maria Kirilenko who took the first set off Serena Williams before losing in three in the second round.

The message is simple -- the Russians are coming, and there's more and more of them.

"My country used to be closed, nobody could go anywhere and just the top athletes travelled," said Nadia Petrova, last year's semifinalist.

"Then the doors were opened and everybody could travel and go wherever they wanted and they realized they could do something with sport. More people put in more effort and became athletes."

The likes of Sharapova, and before her Anna Kournikova, headed to Florida for their tennis education, and the effect has been profound with the highly-rated Sharapova now sounding more Miami than Moscow.

Her permanent home is in the US unlike Dementieva, Myskina and Svetlana Kuznetsova who all still live in Russia.

"I was raised in Russia, I feel like I am going back home, I am comfortable there because that is where I was born. But I don't think I would want to live there. Life is just so very different after being in the US for so long."

Despite her fondness for the US, Sharapova insists her relationship with the other Russian players is good.

Despite the bright future for the sport in Russia, the new generation of players still have a fondness for the past with Dementieva working closely with Olga Morozova, who was runner-up in France in 1977.

"She was an idol for us and it's great that we have people like her in our country," said Myskina.

"Now I hope that with myself and Elena in the final here, the sport will become more popular."
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