PARIS — One of the quirks and delights of the Grand Slam tennis tournaments is that the historical tennis figures are often still here on site, playing in the senior events, watching from the stands or the commentary booths, hobnobbing in the hallways and presidents’ boxes.

So on Thursday it was both convenient and unremarkable when Simona Halep became the first Romanian woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Virginia Ruzici, that Ruzici was soon giving interviews of her own in the players’ lounge.

Ruzici, still lithe at age 59, won the French Open in 1978 and reached the final in 1980, losing in a hurry to Chris Evert. Long a television analyst, Ruzici is now Halep’s manager, having first seen her when Halep was 14 and having first believed in her ability to make a big professional impact after watching her win the French Open junior title at age 16 in 2008.

“She’s so fluid; you don’t see her coming,” Ruzici said.

But there is nothing stealthy about Halep reaching Saturday’s French Open final against Maria Sharapova. Her rise has been quick and steady in the last two seasons. She was No. 47 at the end of 2012, No. 11 at the end of 2013 and will be No. 3, behind Serena Williams and Li Na, in the rankings Monday.

Li was upset in the first round and Williams in the second, and when the third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska lost in the third round, Halep, at No. 4, became the highest women’s seed remaining.

She has not dropped a set — not against the former French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals and not, despite a shaky second set, against Andrea Petkovic in her 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory Thursday.

“The thing is, against Simona, I have to play really aggressive, and you have to step into the court so she doesn’t have the time to play her game,” Petkovic said. “Because when she starts opening up the court, she plays super smart, and she really uses the whole court.”

It has long been thus. Iani Alecsiu, a Romanian who just graduated from Columbia, where she was on the tennis team, played against Halep in junior tournaments in Romania.

“She was always the best then, too, and a very smart player,” said Alecsiu, who is in Paris to watch the French Open.

Halep needs to be clever. At 5 feet 6, she is of below-average height and reach for a leading tennis player. Because of her height, Halep said, “I try to play faster, to open the angles, because I know this is my chance.”

She is the latest proof that there is still room for different body types to succeed at the highest level of the game. Dominika Cibulkova, a 5-3 Slovakian, reached the Australian Open final earlier in the year before losing to Li.

“Justine Henin was maybe 1 centimeter smaller than Simona, and she won a lot,” Ruzici said of Henin, the four-time French Open champion from Belgium. “So look, it is still possible. Simona compensates through other qualities: speed, a good eye, good hands and talent.”

She will need all of these against Sharapova, who has beaten Halep in all three of their previous matches, rallying from the loss of the first set to win the final in Madrid on red clay last month.

It is an intriguing stylistic and sonic contrast: Sharapova’s big cuts and aggressive footwork against Halep’s grace and lighter touch, as well as Sharapova’s sound and fury against Halep’s Zen garden introspection.

Halep, 22, has more tactical options than most and, with her ability to disguise her strokes, she can catch veteran opponents leaning the wrong way. With her court vision and quick-footed flow, she is also rare in that she rarely looks rushed.

Time is the ultimate tennis accessory in this power-hungry era.

“We do have a traditional school of tennis in Romania, but the majority of the players who have succeeded here or in other tournaments are individual talents,” Ruzici said. “We have to give credit to the coaches who took care of Simona, and she’s had a few. I think from each one of them she kept interesting things, and all of them slowly managed to polish her technique and her game.”

Halep has asked her first coach, Ioan Stan, from her home city of Constanta, to travel to Paris for the final. Her newest coach, the Belgian Wim Fissette, is here. Fissette once coached Kim Clijsters, and he joined Halep in February.

“She’s always thinking of solutions in a match; thinking of what to do if her A game is not working,” Fissette said. “She never loses it mentally.”