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| �1998 ESPN/WTA |
| Seles falls to Graf in quarters. |
Posted: Friday, Nov. 20 12:35am ET
NEW YORK -- When the last ball had been struck, Steffi Graf was still standing. Barely.
After surviving a nearly perfect set by fifth-seeded Monica Seles to begin the match, Graf continued her remarkable run Thursday night by outlasting her longtime foe 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 and advancing into the semifinals of the season-ending Chase Championships.
In the night's first quarterfinal, Irina Spirlea of Romania easily beat Belgium's Dominique Van Roost 6-2, 6-3.
By winning her 12th consecutive match, Graf proved she is a serious contender once again. And even in defeat, Seles, named Comeback Player of the Year earlier this week, showed she also is ready to battle for the No. 1 ranking.
"I don't like to compare victories," said Graf, seeking her third straight title. "It's just been great to be able to keep on playing well after my injury. It's just been great to keep on going."
The first set took just 24 minutes -- the length of time Graf used to post in rushing past her victims. This time, she was on the losing end. As she walked to her chair, she muttered aloud to herself. In German.
It was a conversation she would continue until the final point. Then, Graf sat in her chair, her head thrown back in exhaustion, but smiling.
This was a match that should have been played at Paris and the U.S. Open in 1993 -- before a crazed Graf fan stabbed Seles in the back during a match.
This was a match that should have been played at the Australian, French and U.S. Opens in the intervening years that saw first one, then the other, then both sidelined by injuries.
Graf, 29, underwent wrist surgery in September. Seles, 24, just overcame a 48-hour stomach virus.
You couldn't tell it by the quality of the battle between the two former top-ranked players.
They tested every line on the blue Madison Square Garden court, found every corner, hit most of the angles. While their basic plan of attack was battering-ram groundstrokes from just inside the baseline, they tried every shot in the book, trying to impress their will on the other.
There was no way Seles could keep up the game she showed in the opening set. Perfection goes only so far. All Graf could do was wait until her opponent's game cooled off a bit.
Graf appeared a little nervous, a little tentative. She had every reason to.
"She just overpowered me," Graf said. "I couldn't get a return in."
She solved Seles' serve for the first time in the third game of the second set, breaking her at 30 with a patented Graf forehand that skipped off the carpet deep in the far corner.
Seles broke right back, and the two traded service breaks again in the seventh and eight games.
But Seles made a few errors in her next service game, and that was all Graf needed. She held at 15 in the 10th game and, 61 minutes after they had begun, the two were level at one set apiece.
Neither refused to yield. Graf fought through four deuces to hold serve in the fourth game of the third set. Seles held from deuce in the next game.
On the changeover following the fifth game of the final set, Graf called for a trainer and had her right foot and ankle rewrapped. During the injury timeout, Seles stood alongside the umpire's chair and stretched, trying to keep limber.
In the ninth game, Graf finally got the crucial break.
It started when Seles buried a forehand in the net. Then Graf hit a forehand that Seles thought was long. Seles returned it into the net and looked at umpire Leanne White, seeking an overrule. There wasn't one, and Graf had a love-30 lead.
Two more errors by Seles gave Graf the break, and the German was serving for the match.
Seles refused to surrender, fighting off four match points before Graf finally hit an inside-out forehand winner for the spot in Saturday's semifinals where she will play the winner of Friday night's match between top-seeded Lindsay Davenport and No. 8 Nathalie Tauziat.
"I could feel that the crowd was really behind me, especially in the third set, and that made the win special for me tonight," Graf said.
Spirlea did a little wiggle when her drop shot fell over the net for a winner, and was even more animated a few points later when she closed out her straight-set victory.
Spirlea, making her third appearance in the Championships, will face either second-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland or No. 6 Mary Pierce of France on Saturday. Their match will be played Friday night.
Spirlea had her entire repertoire of shots working against Van Roost, who made her Garden debut this year. She had help from her opponent, who struggled with her serve.
After Van Roost held to start the match, Spirlea won five straight games to take control. Twenty-nine minutes after they started, the Romanian had wrapped up the opening set.
The second set was more even. But by then it was too late for Van Roost, who dropped her serve at love in the third game and at 15 in the eighth game.
Sunday's title match will be a best-of-5 sets, the only time women play more than three sets. The winner will collect $500,000, with $250,000 going to the losing finalist.
The top eight doubles teams are also competing on the Garden's blue carpet.
