Seles match one to savour

Behind the facade of public eulogies lies a strength of belief that both Steffi Graf and Monica Seles will carry into today's semi-final at Roland Garros. It has sustained them through this French Open tennis championship and many previous Grand Slam successes, they know how to win, how to cope with the pressure of the big occasion.

Publicly they could not have been nicer to each other and one suspects that they harbour a genuine respect. But equally certain is that both Graf and Seles believe that when they can take the penultimate step on Court Central later today. Somewhat tentative regarding their respective prospects at the outset of the tournament because of injury (Graf's back damaged in Germany) and illness (Seles absence for six weeks with a sinus problem), they are broaching their best form.

The upshot is that the 16,000 that will throng Court Central will be the main beneficiaries. Graf's leads the head-to-head statistics with a 9-5 advantage but Seles can point to a 3-2 lead on clay. Both speak with affection of previous clashes, Seles conceding that they were some of the best matches of her career. "With Steffi I have played some fantastic matches.

"I think a couple of matches are probably the highlight of my career. But you never go into a match thinking this is going to be great because it will often end up as a terrible game. What you can say is that we are both going to go in there and do the best we can. I think we are both really strong mentally.

"We both want to win and we play at a very high level. Whoever makes the shots on the day will win." Graf was equally positive about today's encounter, admitting that she was looking forward to the clash. "Absolutely, we've had a lot of close matches here at this tournament, one memorable one in particular. It's definitely a match to look forward to.

"Against Monica it's going to be a difficult match so those questions about whether I can win the title are not relevant. I am concentrating on this match no further."

In the other semi-final defending champion Arantxa SanchezVicario will hope that sequence of failure for Martina Hingis continues at the French Open. It is the only Grand Slam that eludes the world number one who admits that in the last two years she has been a little preoccupied in trying to win. "I probably wanted it too much, maybe underestimated the players a couple of times.

"I like playing Arantxa even though she's dangerous here. She's mentally very strong and this is her favourite tournament. It's going to be a good match."

The Spaniard maintains that despite the fact that she is defending champion the pressure remains firmly on young Hingis' shoulders. "We have never played each other in the French Open so it's going to be interesting. I'll give it my best. She probably has more pressure on her, I'm happy to be in the semi-finals."

One suspects that the doughty Spaniard was indulging in a little psychology. It is interesting to note that with the exception of Iva Majoli in 1997, the last winner outside of the Graf, Seles, Sanchez-Vicario trio was Chris Evert Lloyd in 1986.

Ignoring that statistic I will stick with my pre-tournament assertion that Martina Hingis will claim a first French Open title, with no great assurity I might add.