Seles, Chang In Semifinals With Straight-Set Victories

One more nagging injury struck Monica Seles, though it didn’t slow her down a step today on the way into the Australian Open semifinals.

Seles, beset by a groin pull after recovering from knee and ankle injuries and a mysterious virus, strained a tendon above her right ankle midway through a 6-1, 6-2 romp over Iva Majoli.

After streaking through nine straight games in pursuit of a fourth Australian Open title, Seles led 3-0 in the second set when she felt a twinge between her ankle and calf.

A left-hander, she had trouble pushing off on her right foot serving. She dropped that game with a double-fault on break point, but shrugged off the pain to win in 58 minutes.

“I was able to finish the match pretty strong,” Seles said. “I said to myself, ‘That’s OK.”’

In five matches, Seles has lost only 17 games - and that without being completely healthy or in the best shape. She’s slightly overweight, she acknowledged, she’s not as fast as she’d like to be and her groin pull is annoying.

“On a scale of 10, it’s about a 4,” Seles said of the groin injury.

Next up Thursday is Arantxa Sanchez Vicario or Chanda Rubin.

Men’s No. 5 Michael Chang also hasn’t dropped a set on the way to the semifinals. His latest victim, Mikael Tillstrom, fell 6-0, 6-2, 6-4 today.

Chang, a semifinalist in Australia a year ago, will play the winner of the match between No. 2 Andre Agassi and No. 8 Jim Courier.