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TENNIS ROUNDUP : Seles’ Victory Ties Record Set by Graf

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From Associated Press

Top-seeded Monica Seles, relentlessly pounding winners, demolished Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-1, 6-1, and won the Nichirei International Ladies Championships Sunday at Tokyo.

With the victory, Seles matched Steffi Graf’s record of winning 17 singles titles before her 18th birthday. She will be 18 in December.

“She mixed up her shots very well,” said the second-seeded Fernandez, who often helplessly watched Seles’ shots zip past her.

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Seles, the world’s top-ranked woman player, needed only 51 minutes to beat Fernandez, the tournament’s defending champion.

Seles is 7-1 against Fernandez.

It was her seventh victory of the season and was worth $70,000, which brought her total winnings this season to $1,507,758.

Top-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain won her second consecutive Paris Women’s Open, defeating unseeded Ines Gorrochategui of Argentina, 6-0, 6-3.

France completed a 5-0 Davis Cup sweep of Yugoslavia at Pau, France, to advance to the final against the United States.

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