Amelia Island, FL (TSN) – Second-seeded Monica Seles and seventh-seeded Conchita Martinez both advanced Friday to the semifinals of the $520,000 Bausch & Lomb tennis championships.
Seles only needed 55 minutes to pull off a 6-3, 6-0 pasting of number-five Amanda Coetzer.
Martinez, who won here in 1995, outlasted fourth-seeded Mary Pierce 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in a rematch of last year’s final. Today’s match lasted two hours and 43 minutes.
Pierce, the defending champion, had also been a finalist at this clay-court event in 1996 and 1997. The 24-year-old Frenchwoman fell to 18-4 at Amelia Island.
Also, ninth-seeded Russian Anna Kournikova demolished sixth- seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-0, 6-2. Schnyder felt her ongoing feud with Kournikova played a part in her lackluster effort today. The 20-year-old Schnyder accused Kournikova of stalling tactics in last year’s battle between the two women at Amelia Island, a match which Kournikova won 6-1, 6-3.
The 17-year-old Kournikova, a finalist at the Family Circle Cup last week, will face unseeded Ruxandra Dragomir in the other semifinal match. Dragomir, who defeated Fabiola Zuluaga 6-3, 6-1, has lost a total of just 16 games in four matches. She is seeking her fifth tournament victory and her first in the United States.