OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Top-seeded Monica Seles rebounded from a sluggish opening match to beat Alexandra Stevenson 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday night in the IGA U.S. Indoor Championships.
Stevenson had nine of the 13 aces in the match, but Seles never lost serve as she advanced to Saturday’s semifinals.
“She had nothing to lose and came out playing good tennis. Fortunately, I felt like I played good tennis, too,” Seles said.
Seles had to win a tiebreaker Wednesday in her victory over Jenny Hopkins, but was in control from the start this time.
I definitely played better,'' she said.
I’m still not timing the ball like I want to, but hopefully with a good day of practice, things will come around.”
Also Thursday, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia used a big serve to upset third-seeded Amanda Coetzer, 7-6 (0), 3-6, 6-0.
Neither player broke serve in the first set before Hantuchova dominated the tiebreaker.
I really concentrated in the tiebreaker, especially the first few points,'' said Hantuchova.
It is so difficult to come back against a Top 10 player like Amanda. I knew how important the tiebreaker was.”
Coetzer, ranked No. 10, broke serve early while winning the second set, but fell behind early in the third and didn’t recover.
I never could break her serve,'' Coetzer said.
She served really well and was consistently around 90-95 mph. She is taller, and the angle of her serve is more difficult because of her height.”
The 17-year-old Hantuchova, ranked 108th in the world, will play a quarterfinal match Friday against another unseeded player, Anjko Kapros of Hungary.
In other matches, fifth-seeded Lisa Raymond advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over fellow American Dawn Buth. Raymond will play second-seeded Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals.