Seles Warms Up

Monica Seles won two matches in straight sets to reach the final of the Eastbourne grass-tournament, the major tuneup for Wimbledon.

With the quarterfinals and semifinals played today (Thursday’s matches were rained out), the top-seeded Seles first beat qualifier Ines Gorrochategui 6-3, 6-1 in 61 minutes.

Then Seles needed just more than an hour to beat defending champion Nathalie Tauziat 6-4, 6-4.

Eastbourne is Seles’ first grass-court tournament since 1992, when she lost in the Wimbledon final to Steffi Graf.

Seles’ will face Mary Jo Fernandez who disposed of Jana Novotna in the other semifinal 6-1, 2-6, 8-6.

At Halle, Germany, Richey Reneberg knocked Jim Courier out of the Gerry Weber Open, beating his fellow American 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov also advanced to the semis with a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (13-11) win against Sweden’s Magnus Larsson.