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Seles looks strong Sixth seed downs Sanchez-Vicario in fourth round
Posted: Monday July 03, 2000 11:57 AM
LONDON (Reuters) -- Sixth seed Monica Seles powered into the quarter-finals at Wimbledon on Monday with a 6-3 6-4 victory over her old rival Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. The 26-year-old American, a finalist in 1992, blasted the ninth seed off court with a barrage of baseline winners to set up a quarterfinal against defending champion Lindsay Davenport or Jennifer Capriati. The gutsy Spaniard saved three match points but was plagued by double-faults in the first meeting between the two on grass in 22 matches since 1989. Seles's win means she has won 19 of those matches. Sanchez-Vicario, a Wimbledon finalist in 1995 and 1996, had the worst possible start when the electronic line judge inexplicably bleeped as she tried a second serve on the first point of her first service game. She immediately double-faulted and then did so again, lost serve and never really recovered. Seles, her trademark grunt and double-fisted backhand in fine form, made a rare unforced error to lose serve at 4-2 but Sanchez-Vicario again double-faulted to concede her own serve straight away and it cost her the first set. A half-hour rain break ensued but it was service as normal when play resumed. Seles broke for 3-2 in the second set and produced three love service games to move 5-3 up and in sight of victory. Sanchez-Vicario gritted her teeth and saved three match points in her next service game. Seles, though, simply had too much power and, serving for the match, walloped a backhand down the line to seal victory in 77 minutes.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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