Halard-Decugis advances to Tasmanian semis
Posted: Thursday January 14, 1999 01:01 PM
HOBART, Australia (AP) -- Top seed Julie Halard-Decugis saved a
match point and then won five successive games to reach the
semifinals of the Tasmanian International women's tennis tournament
Thursday.
The Frenchwoman's escape was at the expense of unseeded
Zimbabwean Cara Black, whom she beat 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in 2 hours, 26
minutes.
Halard-Decugis will meet fifth seed Chanda Rubin of the United
States, who beat fourth-seeded Sarah Pitkowski of France 4-6, 6-1,
6-4.
The other semifinal will be between two unseeded players, Rita
Grande of Italy and American Amy Frazier.
Grande reached the semifinals by eliminating third-seeded
Spaniard Virginia Ruano-Pacual, the only surviving seed in the
bottom half of the draw.
She won 6-2, 5-1, with Ruano-Pascual retiring with a strained
leg muscle just before her defeat was completed.
Frazier and Nathalie Dechy of France were 3-3 in the first and
appeared headed for a close battle.
Then the more experienced American raised her play a notch and
allowed Dechy only one more game before taking the match 6-3, 6-1.
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