This year's French Open got underway with the same brand of hype which has fuelled most women's tennis tournaments in 1998 -- talk about the teens. The next generation has arrived and you'd have to be living under a rock to miss it. Indeed, the kids were all the rage at the European clay court tune-ups. World #1 Martina Hingis defeated fellow 17-year-old Venus Williams in the Italian Open final. The hopelessly photogenic Anna Kournikova, all of 16 at the time, got her share of the headlines the following week with a win over Hingis. Meanwhile, there was that other Williams girl -- Venus's kid sister Serena -- to marvel at, with a ranking which had climbed more than 400 spots in a manner of months.

Hopelessly photogenic Anna Kournikova

The question in the minds of many observers wasn't whether a youngster would triumph at Roland Garros. It was merely a matter of WHICH youngster. The tournament would surely come down to the marquee quarterfinal between Hingis and the elder Williams, with the winner there facing one last serious hurdle in a semi-final against Kournikova or perhaps a final against Serena Williams. Not so fast. A pair of the tour's grizzled veterans -- at the ripe old ages of 24 and 26 -- had designs on turning back the youth brigade and returning to the final themselves.

For Monica Seles, setting foot on court at the 1998 French Open was unquestionably bittersweet. The recent passing of her beloved father Karolj after an agonizing battle with cancer left her with a painful void...and, paradoxically, new life. The burden which had plagued her throughout the season -- the constant weighing of her own career versus the time she wished to spend with her ailing father -- had been lifted. For the first time all year, Seles could take the court relatively free from distractions.

Of course, Karolj Seles was not forgotten. The professional cartoonist who had once drawn faces on tennis balls to keep practice sessions fun and fresh for his gifted daughter was literally close to Monica's heart in Paris, as she wore his wedding ring around her neck. Constant reminders also came from the press, as every interview featured some variation on the "winning this one for your father / playing with a heavy heart" theme.

Persistent scrutiny from the media was not an issue for two-time champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. The #4 seed was once again advancing through a draw "quietly" -- journalist-speak for "winning matches without getting much attention." However, when "the Barcelona Bumblebee" made Alexandra Fusai her third round victim by the lopsided score of 6-2, 6-1, it should have raised some eyebrows among those in the know. Just one week removed from a run to the semi-finals in Strasbourg, Fusai had been playing some of the best tennis of her career. If Arantxa could take her out so swiftly, perhaps she was a serious contender after all.

Not be outdone, the kiddie corps also survived the tournament's first week intact. Hingis, pursuing the only Grand Slam singles title to have eluded her thus far, dropped a mere 11 games in her first three matches. The "Swiss Miss" even managed to vanquish a ghost from her Roland Garros past, ousting Karina Habsudova (who had eliminated Hingis in 1996's third round). Venus Williams was slugging her way through the draw just as convincingly, making pretty good players like Tamarine Tanasugarn and Ai Sugiyama look utterly helpless.

Venus's sister Serena -- playing only the second clay court tournament of her career -- was also proceeding apace. She'd gotten a surprising scare from the usually non-threatening Jana Nejedly in the opening round, but pulled out a 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 win. By the weekend, Serena had gotten her game in working order to such an extent that she reeled off 10 straight games in a hegemonic win over 15th seeded Dominique van Roost. When a player the calibre of Van Roost (who has reached five singles finals in '98 alone) gets batted around like that, it's cause to sit up and take notice. Kournikova was no less ruthless in her third round win, even bothering to engage in a long argument over a service call late in her 6-0, 6-0 whitewash of Asa Carlsson.

Form was more or less holding eleswhere in the draw. The seeds who had been ousted could be classified as traditionally uncomfortable on clay (Nathalie Tauziat and Lisa Raymond); infamously inconsistent (Mary Pierce, booed off the court by her fickle French fans following an ugly loss to Magui Serna); slogging through a year-long slump (Irina Spirlea); or merely unlucky enough to face a rising star (Van Roost and #5 seed Amanda Coetzer, who squandered three match points in a very close loss to fluffy-haired 19-year-old Patty Schnyder).

The fourth round is often a significant turning point at a Grand Slam. The pretenders have been shuffled out, the seeds are beginning to square off, and the hunt for the championships comes into clearer focus. The Round of 16 at the '98 French Open was no exception.

Particularly telling were a pair of matches delayed by rain and therefore played over the span of two days. One featured serve-and-volley ace Jana Novotna getting the best of Kournikova. The "Russian Lolita" had struggled before against Novotna's attacking style and she was further unnerved by an incident in which she was denied a bathroom break by perpetually controversial tournament official Bruno Rebeuh.

Meanwhile on Court Suzanne Lenglen, defending champ Iva Majoli finally appeared to be back in her comfort zone after a long stretch of malaise. Refusing to surrender her crown just yet, the affable Croatian turned back a three set challenge from topspin wizard Conchita Martinez. No matter how poorly she plays at the tour's other stops, Majoli always seems to pick up her game at Roland Garros.

The fourth round bout most emblematic of the WTA Tour's ongoing "old guard" versus "young turks" storyline featured Serena Williams, looking utterly fearless against far more experienced opponent Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. She sprinted to a 6-4, 5-2 lead and was one game away from taking another major step forward in her burgeoning career. Sanchez Vicario is no quitter, however, and she would not go quietly.

Later admitting that she had become angry over a perceived lack of respect coming from across the net, Arantxa kept chasing down balls, making Williams hit one, two, three more shots. Increasingly, those extra shots went into the net, into the doubles alley, and over the baseline. Completely out of her rhythm and maybe even a little outpsyched, Williams essentially gave the match away. Motivated from within by what might be deemed a Rodney Dangerfield complex, Sanchez Vicario regained a sliver of the spotlight with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory.

The quarterfinals weren't short on eye-catching match-ups either. Seles and Novotna, whose contrasting styles can make for very intriguing tennis, met in a rematch of the '96 quarterfinals. Novotna was the surprise winner that time, but it wasn't to be again for the savvy net-rusher. Seles came from behind to win in three sets.

Elsewhere, #2 seed Lindsay Davenport -- happy to be free from the media glare and even happier to be posting some big wins on a surface she doesn't like -- put Majoli away in a topsy-turvy three set affair. Meanwhile, the Sanchez Vicario express rolled over another promising teen. Steadily emerging from Martina Hingis's shadow as the second best player from Switzerland, Patty Schnyder put up a good fight before exhaustion (and Sanchez Vicario's consistent retrieving) overtook her in a 6-2, 6-7, 6-0 loss.

Of course, all three matches were virtual afterthoughts in a round which featured undisputed number one player Martina Hingis versus budding superstar Venus Williams. The pair had split four previous matches in '98: Williams coming out ahead in Sydney and at the Lipton; Hingis prevailing at Indian Wells and Rome. The stage was set for a nail-biter. However, Martina grew up on the clay and from very early on looked more sure of herself than Venus. Falling back into the impatient funk which had cost her against Hingis in past matches, Williams was outclassed on this afternoon. The #1 seed stormed to a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win.

With only one young gun remaining, the final two rounds seemed to some a pure formality. Looking better than ever, Hingis would surely cruise through to her first Roland Garros title. If that sentiment sounds familiar, it's because the exact same things were being said when Hingis reached last year's French Open final. Having overcome what appeared to be her toughest hurdle by squeaking out a close win over Seles, Hingis was a heavy favorite in the final against Majoli. Mentally and physically drained, Martina went down rather meekly in the '97 final.

History repeated itself in '98, but this time Seles was the opponent taken too lightly. After playing a couple poor first sets earlier in the tournament, the naturalized American came out firing on all cylinders this time. Hingis was winning her share of the long, high quality rallies, but Seles was slowly building a lead. Hingis eventually dropped the opening set 6 games to 3.

Highly regarded for her rare ability to change strategies in mid-stream, the GQ cover girl was curiously unable or unwilling to employ a Plan B on this occasion. Her efforts to out-hit powerful Seles becoming less and less fruitful as the match wore on, Hingis ended up with perhaps the worst loss of her reign at #1. The 6-3, 6-2 upset propelled Monica Seles into her first French Open final in six years.

There was another semi-final played and it featured two of the top four seeds, but it went largely ignored. Dogged as ever in her mission to reach another Grand Slam final, Sanchez Vicario played good enough defensive tennis to frustrate Davenport. Possessing the talent to contend for a major title but maybe not the determination, the California native was dealt a 6-3, 7-6 loss. In a turn of events not foreseen by many experts, the French Open women's singles final in 1998 featured the same players as the 1991 final -- Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

For a few days, at least, the tennis world reverted back to a time before the Williams sisters wore beads in their hair, back when Anna Kournikova hadn't yet taken up residence at Nick Bollettieri's tennis boot camp. Grunts reverberating from Seles, crafty moon balls being tossed up by Sanchez Vicario... it was '91 all over again. Numbered though their days as champions might be, Arantxa and Monica had a new opportunity to shine.

As they'd been for two weeks -- as they've been for her entire career, when you get right down to it -- the odds were not with Sanchez Vicario. With a dismal career record of 2-14 against Seles and a marked paucity of crowd support, there weren't many factors going her way. However, the scrappy Spaniard who's supposedly never been big enough, strong enough, or aggressive enough hadn't won three Grand Slam singles titles by accident.

With methodical dilligence, Sanchez Vicario kept the ball in play and waited for errors. It worked in the first set, as Arantxa dug out of a deficit to win the opening stanza in a tiebreak. It failed in the second set, Seles blasting winners from both wings on her way to a second set bagel. However, Monica's fairy tale run finally ran out of gas one set before the finish line. In a display of pure mental toughness and physical stamina, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario fought her way to a 7-6, 0-6, 6-2 victory, earning her third French Open championship.

Unlike the brief, perfunctory handshakes usually exchanged by the tour's teenaged rivals, Arantxa engaged Monica in a warm embrace, offering words of comfort for all her opponent had recently been through. Never known as a particularly gracious winner, Sanchez Vicario actually seemed sincere in her trophy-accepting speech when she apologized to Seles for beating her.

Though she's still desperate to win and prickly enough to take post-match shots at young Serena Williams, time has nonetheless imbued Sanchez Vicario with enough perspective to grant Seles a dignified tribute. After delaying the inevitable changing of the guard for one more exciting fortnight, both of this year's finalists had earned the right to classy congratulations.