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Tennis: Seles quickly into her stride

Friday 25 July 1997 23:02 BST
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Monica Seles began her summer hard-court season by thrashing Italy's Rita Grande 6-2, 6-1 in 50 minutes in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California.

The second-seeded Seles is trying to shrug off a seemingly never-ending spate of injuries, the most recent of which is a bad back.

Grande, however, could not take advantage of Seles's poor condition and was completely overwhelmed by her sharp angles and quick-fire returns.

Back from a two-week yachting holiday, Goran Ivanisevic continued to cruise at the Infiniti Open in Los Angeles despite the effects of a bad stomach. The top-seed reeled off 12 aces to beat 125th-ranked Frenchman Olivier Delaitre 7-5, 7-6 and move into the quarter-finals.

The former Wimbledon champion and twice winner of this event, Richard Krajicek, had to save four match points before beating the 21-year-old tour newcomer Glenn Weiner 7-5, 5-7, 7-6.

Krajicek saved them all in a 22-point 10th game of the third set to level the match at 5-5. The Dutchman finally dismissed the South African-born qualifier 7-5 in the tie-break.

Pete Sampras, the world No 1, has withdrawn from next week's Du Maurier Open in Montreal with an arm injury.

Danny Sapsford was unable to preserve British interest in the Northern Electric Open in Newcastle despite a brave effort against Frenchman Jean- Baptiste Perlant in the second round yesterday. The former Davis Cup player lost 6-4, 7-6 to the eighth seed.

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