How apt it was that Mary Pierce, the last ever woman with the bracketed word of France behind her name on the Roland Garros honour roll, was at the scene of her former triumph. Perhaps the discerning Parisian fans never truly accepted this Canadian-born, American-schooled baseliner as one of their own. But she was a champion.

More sadly than can be said for Amelie Mauresmo whose second round exit to 132nd ranked Carla Suárez Navarro surely signals an acceptance that the one-time Australian Open and Wimbledon champion will now never win the tournament that annually rendered her so brimful of nerves that she never was able to properly contend.

How the French fans would have rejoiced had their heroine been able to overcome her annual neurosis that habitually struck whenever she walked onto Court Philippe Chatrier. On more foreign courts she ticked the boxes where Pierce invariably came up short with this nation’s public; she played with panache, she didn’t employ the routine double-fisted backhand and operate almost exclusively from the baseline, she was brimful of spirit and loved to attack.

Pierce never managed to satisfy such demands but in 2000 against Conchita Martinez she was still sufficiently resolute to win a battle of attrition and lift the Coupe de Suzanne Lenglen. Tricolours were waved, patriotic joy was a couple of degrees above lukewarm and always there was the hope that Mauresmo would ultimately be strong enough to give them the home-grown title the French craved.

As we all now know, that glorious day never dawned but to add a gender twist to that proclamation which was traditionally made by the Senior Peer of France when the coffin of a monarch descended into the vault of the Basilica Saint Denis; the queen is dead, long live the queen.

After winning last year’s French Open junior title Alize Cornet has been regarded as a potential princess. Delightful to the eye, exceptionally talented with the racket, the girl from the Cote d’Azur is perfect not just for the covers of glossy magazine but well acquitted to satisfy the demands of nation’s tennis public.

Earlier this month in Rome, the 18 year-old reached the final and consequently entered the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s top 20 for the first time. Now in her fourth appearance in the main draw at Roland Garros, she is through to third round after overcoming the infinitely more experienced Argentine Gisela Dulko 60 46 64.

After making such an impressive start, the concluding set was clearly a tense affair but Cornet was more than up to the task. And while Mauresmo was regularly forced to make the reluctant admission that the pressure of expectation always wore her down, the youngster is philosophical about the challenges ahead.

“There is pressure, but not more pressure on me than on other people,” maintained the girl born in Nice. “Pressure is something you have to manage. It's part of tennis, especially when you have good results. So it's a positive sign.”

Things will get tougher for Cornet from here on and in the next round she will meet another youngster designated for future stardom, the 14th seed from Poland, Agnieszka Radwanska. Waiting further down the track are Jelena Jankovic, who is currently the form player of the women’s tour and successful over Cornet in Rome, and reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams.

It will be an onerous task but rest assured the crowd will be fervently behind a girl who is more than prepared to give her own and isn’t frightened by the task that awaits her. Patience with Mauresmo is now over, the French have somebody new to cheer.