It has taken lots of small steps forwards, with a few stutters along the way for Samantha Stosur to get to where she is today - one win way from her maiden Grand Slam singles titles.

Based on form displayed throughout the European claycourt swing and in particularly this week at Roland Garros, she should beat Francesca Schiavone to become the first Australian woman in 30 years to win a Grand Slam title. Certainly, the bookmakers like her chances, TAB Sportsbet quoting her as a $1.16 favourite, against Schiavone's $4.80.

Stosur has played well all through the northern swing, including winning at Charleston in the United States. But she has stepped it up considerably at Roland Garros, with wins over Justine Henin, Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic en route to Saturday's final.

So clearly does she seem to be peaking at precisely the right time, you'd swear that Bart Cummings has overseen her preparation.

Stosur has charted a steady climb over the last three years to where she is today. Illness wiped out her out from the middle of 2007 for 12 months and brought to an end her days as the No.1 doubles player in the world.

But she re-emerged stronger and fitter and with an improved game, one particularly suited to clay. She has a wicked kick serve and a wonderful forehand, which allows her to dictate points on serve on clay and to get back into points when she's receiving.

The final battle Stosur has had to overcome to get to where she is has been in the mind. Many recall last year's Medibank International in Sydney, where she held four match points in a first-round clash with Williams and blew them all.

So when Stosur had her serve broken at 5-3 and up a set in the quarter-final on Wednesday, the Williams camp thought it again had Stosur right where they wanted her. And when Williams won the second set in a tiebreak, many watching on TV in Australia would have looked at the clock and headed to bed, believing an all-too-familiar tale would play itself out again.

But it didn't. Stosur outslugged Williams to win the deciding set 8-6 and then backed up with an imperious defeat of Jelena Jankovic in the semi-final, conceding just three games in the process and wrapping it up in less than an hour.

Stosur should win. She holds a 4-1 edge in head-to-head play over Schaivone, with the Italian's only win coming in their first meeting and that was five years ago. It is hard to believe that Schiavone will pose a bigger challenge that either Henin or Williams. Any doubts about Stosur's fitness would have dashed after her emphatic win over Jankovic, which came just 24 hours after the ordeal against Williams.

And while the weight of expectation on Stosur is large - for we are an impaatient tennis nation - for Schiavone it is massive, because she's the first Italian - male or female - to make a Grand Slam final in the open era.

If Stosur wins, and the match is at 11pm Saturday (AEST), she will be our first woman Grand Slam winner since Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Wimbledon in 1980 and the first to salute at Roland Garros since Margaret Court in 1973.

To steal a line that was pretty much in vogue around the time of Court's victory - it's time.