Monica Seles will face Martina Hingis in the semi-finals of the Australian Open after beating second seed Venus Williams in three sets in Melbourne this morning. Seles recorded a 6-7 6-2 6-3 victory in just under two hours against her fellow American despite suffering from a fever, although her cause was helped when Williams pulled her right hamstring at 4-4 in the first set, following which her movement was considerably hampered.
This was Seles' first victory over Williams in seven meetings and brought to an end the 21-year-old's 24-match winning streak that stretched back to last July. Williams came to grief after hitting a big 163 kph ace to hold serve for 4-4, receiving eight minutes of treatment from her trainer before re-emerging with taping high up on her right thigh. Although visibly hampered by the strapping, Williams kept her nerve to take the set on a tie-break (7-4), but Seles broke in the first game of the second set to take the initiative.
28-year-old Seles took the second comfortably 6-2 and eventually won on her second match point when Williams netted a forehand from the baseline after one hour 57 minutes to secure her first Grand Slam semi-final since Roland Garros in 1999.
Filed by Shane Murray
