Tennis: Flying start for Russia

Tennis

Flying start for Russia

The top seed, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, withstood a stiff challenge from the unseeded Romanian Irina Spirlea in Berlin yesterday in the semi-finals of the German Open women's tennis tournament. "It was a tough match. I was a bit slow in the first set but pulled back up. I never thought that I would lose," Sanchez Vicario said. In today's final she plays the Bulgarian, Magdalena Maleeva, who yesterday defeated Natalia Zvereva of Belarus 6- 4 7-6 (7-2).