Tagger channels former champ Schiavone

Blessed with a powerful serve, smooth single-handed backhand and all-court nous, it was not so much a dramatic change in the 17-year-old’s game style, more a mental shift since she last met the Australian all-rounder at a junior Slam.

“I think in the Australian Open I didn't believe in myself that I can win it and today I just entered the match and just went for my goal,” Tagger said following her 6-4, 7-6(5) upset of the No.1 seed. “I didn't think for one second to lose the match, I just went for it. 

“I already played her twice and last time I didn't win it, I lost in the third set. It was similar today where I won the first set 6-4 (but) then I lost in the third set (in Melbourne), so I was really tight in the second set today.

“I was also a bit nervous and getting a little bit angry because I had so many break chances and didn't get them, but at the end it was a really good match.”

Tagger became the first Austrian girl to reach a junior Roland-Garros final and the first since Tamira Paszek at the 2006 US Open at any junior major.

She hopes to go one better than Paszek and recently retired compatriot Dominic Thiem, who made the boys’ singles final in 2011. In Saturday's final, the 17-year-old meets British eighth seed Hannah Klugman, a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 winner over Bulgarian Rositsa Dencheva.

The addition of former Roland-Garros champion Francesca Schiavone in her corner has given Tagger added confidence, as has a milestone win over breakout main draw singles surprise Lois Boisson for her maiden ITF Tour title little more than two months ago.

Schiavone, the champion in 2010 and a finalist a year later, has proved an invaluable resource.

“Of course, on clay court she is the queen,” she said. “For the game, she can teach me a lot on the clay court but I think it's not about the game, it's more about the mental part where she was also very strong and she's teaching me a lot.”

Her win over the more experienced Boisson on clay for the W35 title in Terrassa, Spain in March gained further significance following the 361st-ranked Frenchwoman’s remarkable run to the last four in her Grand Slam debut.

It served to boost her belief that she too was capable of something greater.

“I was really impressed but I didn't think about it,” she said of Boisson’s run. “My coach always told me she's playing good, watch out and then she came here and made the result and it was like I saw what my level could be, what I could play. It's impressive I think what she did.

“For the clay-court season it gave me a lot of confidence because I feel very good when I'm playing on the clay court, especially because she's a very strong player.

“I think at the juniors, there's no one like her, so I have the feeling that if I can beat her I can beat the rest of them.”

On Friday, 16-year-old Klugman recovered from a first-set wipeout to make her first junior Slam final, the first from Great Britain since Michelle Tyler won here in Paris in 1976.

Klugman could follow in the footsteps of compatriot Mika Stojsavljevic, who won last year’s junior US Open should she deny the unseeded Tagger.

Niels McDonald and Max Schoenhaus ensured an all-German boys’ singles final following their respective upsets.

Unseeded McDonald saw off Japanese 13th seed Ryo Tabata 6-2, 6-2 while unseeded Schoenhaus took down Bulgarian ninth seed Ivan Ivanov 6-3, 6-4.

In junior girls’ doubles, sisters 16-year-old Alena and 14-year-old Jana Kovackova denied 15-year-old American twins Annika and Kristina Penickova to reach the final.