Defending champion Jana Novotna defeated Monica Seles 7-5, 6-1 to win the Madrid Open on Saturday in a tuneup for the French Open.
Seles was the No. 1 seed and Novotna was seeded second in the clay-court event, the same surface used in Paris.The first set was a see-saw affair, but Novotna overpowered Seles in the second.
Seles's game crumbled in that second set, and she was long on the last three points of her serve in the final game after being up 40-15.
After Novotna broke Seles in the opening game, the American fought back to break the Czech player and draw even, then shut out Novotona to go up 4-3.
But, Novotna broke back to go ahead 5-4 as Seles repeated her most common error of the day, going long on her ground strokes, and Novotna held her serve to win the first set 7-5.
Seles put up little resistance after that, dropping the first four games as Novotna scored her first ace of the match at 40-15 of the fourth game.
Seles came back to 4-1 despite missing a smash for the third time in the match.
After having her right foot bandaged during a long break after the sixth game, Seles went ahead 30-0 on a lob from the net but then appeared to lose her concentration as Novotna powered back from 15-40 to win the match.