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 Hingis, Seles reach final 16 Smith 1st Brit woman in 13 years to reach 4th round
Posted: Saturday June 27, 1998 03:31 PM
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Defending champion Martina Hingis and Monica Seles moved comfortably into the final 16 at Wimbledon today as fire and more rain interrupted play. Hingis reached the fourth round with an easy 6-2, 6-1 victory over unseeded Elena Likhovtseva of Russia. Sixth-seeded Seles, the surprising French Open finalist, make the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time since finishing second in 1992. She beat Indonesian Yayuk Basuki 6-2, 6-3. Both Hingis and Seles will be heavy favorites in their next matches. Hingis faces unseeded Tamarine Tanasugarn and Seles -- in the weaker bottom half -- goes against 16th seeded Sandrine Testud. After four hours of tennis under rare sunshine, play was halted twice by rain, guaranteeing Monday will be filled with left-over third-round matches -- a day traditionally dedicated to the fourth round. Sunday is a day off.
Play on Court 18 was also suspended -- just moments before rain hit -- when a fire broke out on the top floors of a 12-story apartment building adjacent to the Wimbledon grounds. American Todd Martin and Australian Todd Woodbridge were at 2-2 in the fourth set of their third-round match when play was stopped. Officials cleared hundreds of people from the area around the court as smoke billowed over it with ash and cinders falling on to an adjoining picnic area. One woman was taken from the apartment building and treated for smoke inhalation, but no other injuries were reported. For Hingis, it was an easy victory after struggling in her first two matches. "The more matches you play, the more confident you are," Hingis said.
"The tennis was a lot different last year," the defending champion went on. "It was much easier for me to get through the first couple of rounds." Seles admitted the delays today -- the fourth day of six that rain has hit Wimbledon -- was distracting, not to mention the fire, visible as she was playing on Court 1. "I think I had about 10 warmup yesterday ... today about three or four," she said. "And with the fire in the beginning, it was just so strange." "We've seen everything today." That included former champion and eighth seed Conchita Martinez going out to Britain's Samantha Smith 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a match continued from Friday. The 26-year-old Smith became the first British woman to reach the fourth round since Jo Durie and Anne Hobbs 13 years ago. Virginia Wade in 1977 was the last British champion.
Martinez was the second of the top eight seeds to lose this week. The other was No. 4 seed Steffi Graf, upset in two sets Friday by Natasha Zvereva. In other completed matches Saturday, No. 3 seed and Australian Open champion Petr Korda reached the final 16, beating Jerome Golmard of France 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 7-5. No. 12 seed Tim Henman of Britain also reached the fourth round, beating Byron Black 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Henman will face U.S. Open champion Pat Rafter. Henman beat Rafter on his home turf at the Australian Open. No. 11 seed Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden also fell, losing to Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands in five sets 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. Germany's Tommy Haas, who beat Andre Agassi in the second round, was ousted by John Van Lottum of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
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