The defending Brasil Open champion went on the offensive tonight. Monica Seles overcame a sporadic serve with strong strokes to stomp Henrieta Nagyova, 6-0, 6-4, and secure a spot in the tournament semifinals.
The second-seeded Seles stormed through the first set in less than a half an hour, ripping deep returns to repeatedly break Nagyova’s serve.
Betrayed by an errant service toss and a slew of double faults, Seles’ surrended serve twice in the second set, but compensated with crisp groundstrokes to easily advance.
“I have been struggling with my serve since the U.S. Open,” Seles said. “I was having great difficulty with my toss tonight.”
Coach Mike Sell did not make the trip to Bahia, Brasil, so Seles said she’ll have to wait until she returns to the States to work on her serve.
“Since I am here without my coach I will not work on it,” Seles said. “I plan to just stick to my normal practice routine.”
In the final four, Seles takes on talented Greek teenager Eleni Daniilidou tomorrow afternoon. It will be their second career meeting. The first came at the 2001 U.S. Open where Seles came prevailed 6-2, 6-3 in the third round.