Monica Seles's French Open preparation suffered a severe setback yesterday as the former world number one bowed out of the Italian Open in the third round.
Seles, whose career appears to be getting back into top gear despite the worrying distraction of her father's battle with cancer, lost 6-2 4-6 7-5 to France's Sandrine Testud. "This was one of my best wins. in the end and I served well in the last game."
Seles started her year at the Lipton in Key Biscayne, losing in the third round to Russian Anna Kournikova. She got to the semi-finals at Hilton Head on clay, played Amelia Island in Florida and also Fed Cup for the USA.
Earlier, American teenager Serena Williams slammed the brakes on the five-year Italian Open success story of four-time champion Conchita Martinez.
Williams, 16, stormed into the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-2 success over the Spaniard and will now meet elder sister Venus, after she ended the giant-killing run of France's Alexandra Fusai with a resounding 6-1 6-1 win.
Holder Mary Pierce crashed out to unseeded Croatian Mirjana Lucic (16). The 7-5 6-4 victory was Lucic's biggest scalp to date.
