McCarthy knocks out Seles

FEELING THE PRESSURE...Anke Huber in action in the Rosmalen event in Netherlands. Huber was forced out of the semi-finals due to a strained...

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FEELING THE PRESSURE…Anke Huber in action in the Rosmalen event in Netherlands. Huber was forced out of the semi-finals due to a strained thigh.

EASTBOURNE (England), June 21: Defending champion Monica Seles was knocked out of the Eastbourne Women’s Grasscourt tournament in a quarter-final match which ended today.

The top-seeded American and world No 2 was beaten 7-5, 7-5 by big-serving Dutchwoman Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, the eighth seed, and then admitted that she had some work to do on her game before Wimbledon next week.

“I am going to try to get my serve a little bit more in order because I think this week it really has let me down,” said Seles, who was 5-2 up in the first set on Thursday before letting the match slip through her fingers.

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Seles said she was missing the support of her father and coach Karolj, who has cancer, but spoke to him every day by telephone.

In the semi-finals later today Schultz-McCarthy will play fourth seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario who beat sixth seeded Romanian Irina Spirlea, winning 6-4 6-4.

Second seed Jana Novotna had a harder time gaining her place in the last four in a match interrupted by rain on Friday when the Czech was leading 6-2 6-5 against Japan’s Ai Sugiyama. Novotna won 6-2 6-7 6-4 after the rain delay.

She now plays Natasha Zvereva of Belarus who beat Frenchwoman Nathalie Tauziat 6-4 5-7 6-4 in another rain-interrupted quarter-final.

Chang, Krajicek in semis

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ROSMALEN: American Michael Chang and Dutchman Richard Krajicek pulled through tough quarterfinals on Friday in the Heineken Trophy Tennis Tournament.

World No. 2 Chang took 2 hours, 36 minutes including a 40-minute rain delay to break down eighth-seeded Spaniard Francisco Clavet Spain, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (10-8), 6-1.

Chang complained of an injury to the right thigh during the match, but will play Krajicek today in a semi-final of this grass court tuneup for next week’s Wimbledon.

Krajicek, ranked sixth in the world, unexpected resistance from 47th-ranked Czech Martin Damm in his quarterfinal, but won 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4).

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The WTA women’s tourney here was hit by an evening downpour, which cut short top-seeded German Anke huber’s semi-final with Dutchwoman Miriam Oremans with the match at 6-4, 4-6.

Play was abandoned for the day without a ball being hit in the other semi-final between third-seeded Ruxandra Dragomir and No. 8 Asa Carlsson of Sweden.

The other men’s semifinal pits Swede Jonas Bjoerkman, the fourth seed, and unseeded Frenchman Guillaume Raoux.

Both ousted young Dutch hopefuls. Bjoerkman beat qualifier Fernon Wibier 6-2, 6-4. Raoux took Sjeng Schalken, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Rusedski, Kucera in final

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NOTTINGHAM: Tim Henman narrowly missed out on making history with two Britons in an ATP tour final when he crashed out in three sets 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to Slovakian Karol Kucera in the semi-finals of the Nottingham tournament today.

Henman had been aiming to face Greg Rusedski, who cruised through his semi-final with an emphatic 6-3, 6-4 victory over Australian Sandon Stolle.