Seles, Capriati in final

OKLAHOMA CITY, FEB. 25. Jennifer Capriati and Monica Seles moved into the final of the $170,000 indoor women's tennis championship with three-set semifinal victories on Saturday. Capriati beat 17- year- old Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Seles defeated Shinobu Asagoe of Japan 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-2.

Capriati, ranked No. 6 by the WTA, had two service breaks in each set. She took a 3-0 lead in the first set and Hauntuchova got off to a 4-0 start in the second set. Both players held serve in the third set until Capriati broke to go up 4-2. She then had a perfect game to lead 5-2 and broke serve to wrap up the match. Capriati had six aces while Hauntuchova had three. Both players had six unforced errors. Hauntuchova, ranked No. 108, upset third-seeded Amanda Coetzer in the second round.

``It's been tough all week to stay with my rhythm,'' Capriati said. ``I had to really keep focused. She is a good player with a solid game. She's young, still, and inexperienced.''

Seles has won seven of 11 meetings with Capriati, dating back to 1990. Seles has won three of the past five matches vs. Capriati. ``I am looking forward to playing her again,'' Capriati said. ``It is a different match every day. This is a whole different place. I just need to be feeling good and serving well.''

``It will be great to play Jennifer again after that tough loss in the Australian Open,'' Seles said. ``I will have to raise my level of play. I am not playing as well as I did here last year.''

Seles, ranked No. 4, had not lost a set in the Oklahoma City tournament in two years while winning six straight matches. That changed as Asagoe, ranked No. 56, took advantage of six unforced errors by Seles to take the first set 7-6 (7-5).

Things changed dramatically the rest of the way as Seles had two service breaks in each of the final two sets. Asagoe had a combined seven unforced errors the final two sets and managed just four points against Seles' serve in the third set. Seles had eight aces in the match, six in the final two sets. ``The first set was not my best tennis,'' Seles said. ``My rhythm was not there and I missed more shots. I was pushing the ball early and wasn't hitting a good serve.''

Seles won the previous meeting with Asagoe, 6-3, 6-4 last year in Tokyo.

- Reuters

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