Her game may have arrived fashionably late, but when Monica Seles decided to dispatch Conchita Martinez in Saturday's du Maurier Open semifinal, she did it with style.
Seles, the top seed, dropped the opening game to the upstart Spaniard and had the late-arriving crowd in doubt. But Seles broke Martinez the next game, climbing back from a 15-40 deficit, and assumed a 5-1 lead en route to a 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) victory.Seles will meet Germany's Anke Huber in Sunday's final. Huber advanced when Mary Joe Fernandez withdrew after the second set.
"I played well but I also had spurts of terrible play when she started playing well," Seles said. "When I needed I made some great shots."
On the road to her third du Maurier final - aiming to be the first to win three consecutive titles - Seles has shown a penchant for going into corners and keeping her foes continuously on the run.
Martinez beat Seles three weeks ago for the first time in 12 tries, and said Friday that the key was to remain aggressive.
"I started out real good (last time), but it took me longer to get into the match," Martinez said. "I came close in the second set, and in the third, you never know."
In the other semifinal, Huber qualified for her first du Maurier final when Fernandez withdrew after losing the second set 2-6.
Fernandez took the opening set 6-3 but dropped the next one to Huber, who also came back in Friday's quarterfinal against South Africa's Amanda Coetzer, the third seed, to win the last two sets.
After a visit from her trainer, Fernandez had one eye on her right wrist and the other on the U.S. Open, only a week away, and called it quits, which means she also forfeited her doubles quarterfinal with partner Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the top-seeded Open duet.
Fernandez cited a recurring tendinitis problem that grew worse as the week grew older at York University's National Tennis Center.
"I didn't think her injury was going to be that bad," Huber said. "She was hitting quite well, it's a pity."
RCA Championships
INDIANAPOLIS - Fifth-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain and No. 9 Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden advanced to the final of the $1.04 million RCA Championships with straight-set victories.
Moya defeated No. 10 Wayne Ferreira of South Africa 6-4, 6-2 to reach his fourth final of the year.
The match began less than 14 hours after Ferreira completed an exhausting Friday night quarterfinal match against Magnus Larsson of Sweden, ending with a 12-10 tiebreaker.
"I knew he was tired from his match last night," Moya said. "My serve and my forehand were working well."
The ninth-ranked Moya is seeking his first championship of the year and his first ATP title in the United States.
Bjorkman dominated unseeded Mark Woodforde of Australia in the opening semifinal, winning 6-0, 6-2, assuring the Swede of his first top-20 ATP ranking.
Woodforde, who defeated Andre Agassi in a 2-hour, 16-minute match Friday, then played a winning doubles match, was exhausted.
"It was a struggle even to finish some of my service games," he said. "I know I can play way better than that."
Bjorkman conceded that Woodforde labored, but added, "My game destroyed him a little, too. I think I played very smart and very good tennis."
Pilot Pen International
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov advanced to his second singles final of the year, beating Petr Korda in straight sets at the Pilot Pen International on Saturday.
Kafelnikov, also playing in the doubles draw, beat Korda 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), and will next face Patrick Rafter, who eliminated Greg Rusedski in a night match delayed an hour after a cloudburst soaked Stadium Court.
Rafter, the No. 8 seed from Australia, beat 11th-seeded Rusedski 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, earning another shot at a title that has eluded him in three previous appearances in championship matches this year.
Rafter remained poised while withstanding the blistering serves of Rusedski, whose serves have been clocked as fast as 140 mph.
"I guessed right," Rafter said of how it felt to face the big-serving Brit. "It went my way tonight."