Tennis: Edberg says adieu

Stefan Edberg made an emotional exit from the Paris Open and competitive tennis outside his own country when he was beaten 6-4, 7-6 by his fellow Swede Thomas Enqvist in the quarter-finals yesterday.

Edberg, who retires after next weeks' Stockholm Open and the Davis Cup final at home to France, was presented with a miniature replica of the Paris Open trophy he won in 1990 and bowed to a cheering crowd before leaving centre court.

"The Paris crowd have always been behind me. It was great playing here even if I didn't win the match," said Edberg after the crowd urged him on in a tense second-set tie-break that went to Enqvist 8-6.

Enqvist, seeded 12, meets his compatriot Magnus Gustafsson in one semi- final today with Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the highest surviving seed at No 4, facing Petr Korda, qualifier in the other.

Kafelnikov, the French Open champion, who will move up to world No 3 in ATP Monday's rankings, beat the Dutchman Paul Haarhuis 7-6, 6-1, while the Czech veteran Korda, playing his ninth match of the Bercy tournament, eliminated France's Arnaud Boetsch 7-6, 7-6. Gustafsson beat Marc Rosset of Switzerland, the second round conqueror of the top seed, Pete Sampras, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2

Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati moved closer to their first meeting since 1992 by reaching the last four in the Ameritech Cup in Chicago. Seles defeated Irina Spirlea 7-6, 6-2, taking advantage of 33 unforced errors and 12 double-faults by the Romanian. Capriati, ranked 50th, went through when the American Meredith McGrath retired with a sore knee when trailing 5-2 in the first set of their quarter-final.