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By Nick Georgandis

With 10 days left in the French Open (assuming the weather holds), we count down the 10 greatest French Open finals of the Open Era, starting with #10.

1991 - Jim Courier (USA) def. Andre Agassi (USA), 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4

For starters, even the possibility of an all-American French Open final 22 years later seems absolutely preposterous. Such is the state of American tennis (the men, anyways).

It was an American-rich field, with Agassi the No. 4 seed, Pete Sampras No. 6, Courier No. 9, Michael Chang No. 10, John McEnroe No. 15 and Brad Gilbert No. 16.

McEnroe and Gilbert were out in the first round, Sampras the second. Courier was a babe of 20 at tournament's start, beginning the season ranked No. 25 in the world before winning Indian Wells with three victories over Top 10 players (including Agassi) and Miami. Agassi had just turned 21 a month earlier, and was still more than a year away from winning the first of his eight Grand Slam singles titles.

Courier needed five sets to outlast Sweden's Magnus Larsson in the third round, while Agassi only lost two sets in reaching the quarterfinals. Once there, Courier shocked No. 1 Stefan Edberg in four sets and defeated Germany's Michael Stich in four more to reach his first Grand Slam finals. Agassi mopped the floor with Finnish upstart Jakob Hlasek before upending No. 2 Boris Becker to reach the final.

Thus, the two former roommates at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy found themselves squaring off with a Grand Slam title on the line. Agassi had Courier on the ropes twice, taking the first and third sets, but Courier bounced back to win the fourth and fifth for his first career Slam.

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