DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Monica Seles defeated Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan 6-1, 7-5 Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Dubai Open.
Seles will play defending champion Amelie Mauresmo of France on Friday. Mauresmo beat Lina Krasnoroutskaya of Russia 6-2, 6-4.
After an easy first set, Seles had to work hard to avoid a tiebreaker in the second. Serving for the match at 5-4, Tulyaganova broke her serve to even the set. But Seles broke back and held serve to take the match.
“I got a little bit tight out there and am happy to get it done,” Seles said.
Mauresmo, coming off a three-set victory over Petra Mandula of Hungary on Wednesday night, dominated her quarterfinal match from the start.
“I played much better today,” Mauresmo said. “I was very relaxed after last night’s match. It is the first time we played each other, but I handled it well.”