Parents of particularly petulant children who are wonderfully gifted but persistently shout and scream and repeatedly fall short of their potential will sympathise with the tale of Moscow’s Safin family.

As if coping with the tantrums and travails of Marat, arguably tennis’s most glaring underachiever, has not been enough for Michail and his long suffering wife, Rauza, to deal with over the years, they have also had to suffer all the angst of their daughter, Dinara. Marat has at least won two Grand Slam titles, although he should have at least doubled that collection. But hitherto Dinara’s best performance in a major tournament has been to reach a couple of quarter finals.

The unquestionably talented but undeniably mixed-up 22-year-old is now through to a third after once again proving to be a hard-hitting nemesis of her supposed countrywoman, Maria Sharapova. En route she of course suffered more than a couple of crises of confidence, berated herself in rather unladylike self-deprecating terms and as if to emulate her tempestuous big brother, smashed a racket to vent her anger.

However this time there are other signs that suggest she might just push on a little further to accomplish her aims. And if that is the case, it won’t be a minute before time.

Two weeks before arriving in Paris to contest the sixth French Open of her career, Safina won her biggest title to date. First she gained a little notoriety by effectively pushing Justine Henin into retirement by becoming the last player to defeat the soon to retire world No 1. Then she forced her way past the trio of Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Elena Dementieva to claim the silverware and winner's cheque in Berlin.

Safina appears to have carried the momentum into Roland Garros, where she's seeded a lucky 13th. While several other notable players struggled to find any semblance of form, she dropped just five games in her first two matches before polishing off China’s Zie Jheng in straight sets and setting her sights of a re-run of Maria Sharapova’s worst nightmare.

Two years ago it was Safina who clawed her way back from defeat and into the deepest recesses of Sharapova’s self-belief by benefitting from the most agonised choke on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Sharapova led 5-1 in the final set before crumbling to a lamentable defeat.

However, things would get worse for Sharapova as Safina, strong and powerful from the baseline but most relevantly far more happier with clay beneath her soles, was to prove. This time Sharapova led 5-2 in the second set after taking the first in a tie-break and was just three points from victory when her nerve went again. The score ended up 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 and as Safina herself admitted, it was her greatest comeback.

Just as with her brother, a succession of coaches have tried and failed to instill that special ingredient that might push Safina from her current position of creditable also-ran to inclusion amongst the Grand Slam contenders. She certainly has the game; big forceful serve, thudding ground strokes and an imposing physique that does not compromise her movement on a clay court. The habitual problem has been a recurring tentativeness, fuelled it seems by self-doubt.

Steffi Graf's former coach, Heinz Guenthardt, worked with Safina for a few weeks in late 2007 and called her "a unique challenge." He said: “She can hit the ball as hard as anyone and serves extremely well, but sometimes her focus is too much on not missing. I think Dinara doesn't know what she is capable of doing and most of that has to do with self-confidence.”

Certainly the way she ground Sharapova further and further into a disorientated disaster zone suggested that belief in her own ability is now on and at long last the parents Safin will again have something to cheer at a Grand Slam tournament.