Top-seeded Monica Seles, competing just two days after winning a tournament in Los Angeles, advanced to the third round of the du Maurier Open with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Asa Carlsson of Sweden.
Seles, ranked fourth in the world, arrived in Toronto on Monday and said she practiced just five minutes before Tuesday’s match. The 23-year-old added she was feeling the effects of jet lag while on the court.
But she did a terrific job of hiding it from the enthusiastic center-court gathering of about 8,000 at the National Tennis Centre. Seles forced Carlsson, ranked 35th in the world, to commit 39 unforced errors, including 22 in the second set.
“She is one of the biggest fighters out there,” Seles said. “She has good groundstrokes so I had to go for my shots and luckily my serve was going very well.”
Seles has much more on her mind than tennis. Her father continues to battle stomach cancer.
“Some days I think I’m handling it better, trying to separate some things,” she said. “I’m doing the best that I can.”
Seles will play No. 16 Sabine Appelmans of Belgium, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over France’s Alexandra Fusai, in the third round.
Jennifer Capriati, the 1991 du Maurier champion who has battled personal problems since, beat Italy’s Silvia Farina 6-4, 6-3.
– Brett Steven needed just 64 minutes to defeat an unsteady Jim Courier, 6-2, 6-2, at the Pilot Pen International tournament in New Haven, Conn.
