Seles Beats Sanchez Vicario in 3 Hours and Reaches Semifinals, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4

It took nearly three hours, but second-seeded Monica Seles outlasted Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, Thursday night to move into the semifinals of the Virginia Slims Championships.

Seles will face fourth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez, who defeated No. 8 Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, 6-2, 6-4.

Sanchez had seven set points before wrapping up the first set in 67 minutes, and Seles took the second set on her 12th set point.

Seles broke serve in the ninth game of the third set and fought off break point in the final game before reeling off the last three points to win in 2 hours 55 minutes.

The other two quarterfinals--defending champion Steffi Graf against No. 6 Katerina Maleeva and No. 3 Gabriela Sabatini against unseeded Conchita Martinez--will be played today.