Brenda Schultz-McCarthy used heat. Natasha Zvereva used the whole court.
Together, they changed the face of women's tennis - even if just for a day.When they play the WTA Tour Championships semifinals Saturday, it will be Zvereva taking on top-seeded Steffi Graf before Schultz-McCarthy meets Anke Huber.
Gone is defending champion Gabriela Sabatini, ousted by Zvereva 6-2, 5-7, 7-5. Gone is second-seeded Conchita Martinez, blasted out of the season-ending tournament by Schultz-McCarthy 7-5, 6-2.
Since going to a 16-player format in 1983, the championships has never had two unseeded players reach the semifinals - this year there are three: Zvereva, Schultz-McCarthy and Huber. Last year, Sabatini was unseeded when she won the title.
It's been a long time since Zvereva has shone in singles - she reached the French Open final in 1988 - but has teamed with Gigi Fernandez to form the world's top-ranked doubles team.
Friday night, she did it by herself in a match that had a wild ending - the crowd cheering wilding for the loser and umpire Mike Morrissey leaving his chair and rushing out of the arena before shaking hands with the players.
At Frankfurt, Germany, taking risks is Boris Becker's style. Firing aces with second serves on break points, Becker's daring performance paid off Friday.
Becker needed to beat Yevgeny Kafelnikov in two sets to edge Wayne Ferreira out of the ATP Championships semifinals, and the German did exactly that, winning 6-4, 7-5.
"It's part of my character, I cannot change that," Becker said of his risky game that thrilled the boisterous, capacity crowd of 9,000.
Pete Sampras, Becker and Ferreira, who was idle Friday, all finished round-robin play in the White Group with 2-1 records, but Sampras and Becker advanced because of better set averages.
In the Red Group, no mathematics were involved.
Chang beat Jim Courier 6-2, 7-5 to reach the semifinals for the first time and will face Sampras Saturday, while Becker plays Thomas Enqvist.
Enqvist beat Thomas Muster 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 and was the only player who finished the round-robin portion of the event with a 3-0 record.
Sampras, who is assured of finishing the year as No. 1 and is seeking his third title in the season-ending tournament of the top eight players in the world, also was idle Friday.