TOP SEED Monica Seles suffered only the second defeat since her comeback when she went under, 1-6, 7-6, 6-4, to Croatia's Iva Majoli in the quarter-finals of the Pan Pacific women's tournament in Tokyo yesterday.

The joint world number one had conceded only three games in beating the 18-year-old in their Australian Open quarter-final clash last week. She is clearly a better player today," Seles said.

Seles had no excuses for her defeat. "I don't want to take anything away from lva because she, played a great match," said Seles.

Asked whether her left shoulder injury had affected her, Seles replied: "No, I lost a match because Iva was better. My shoulder got a few days rest and was fine.

"I think I missed too many chances. Maybe I wasn't as eager as I should have been," said Seles, who had been hot favourite to win the event in the absence of Steffi Graf.

Seles has won three tournaments, including the Australian Open, in her comeback and until yesterday her only defeat was by Graf in the US Open final last September. She plans to compete in the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Majoli felt she had turned the tables from their Australian Open clash because "Monica made a few more errors this time."

"I expected a close match today but didn't really expect to win because I think she has played really well since her comeback."

Seles had lost only seven games in the previous two encounters. She stood firm in her service games to take the first set with ease. But the remainder of the 118-minute match appeared to be a power-packed confrontation between the two hard-hitters with the momentum turning round a few times.

Seles broke Majoli in the seventh game of the second set to get ahead 4-3. But Majoli never hesitated to attack, relying on her dangerous forehand to break back for 4-4 before going into a tie breaker, which she won to tie the match.

Seles, then, recovered from two breaks down at 0-3 in the decided to get ahead 4-3, but Majoli scored a crucial break in the ninth, for 5-4, putting an end to a fifth deuce with a forehand winner and served out for the match.

Majoli now meets unseeded Martina Hingis, the 15-year-old Swiss prodigy,

Second-seeded Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the third seed, scored straight sets wins to set up an all-Spaniard semi-final today.

Martinez had a smooth passage to the last four with a 6-2 6-3 victory over eighth-seeded American Lindsay Davenport. Sanchez Vicario, playing her first match in the indoor event after receiving a first-round bye and then a walkover, beat fifth seed Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 7-5 6-3.