Seles’ Road to the Final Is Made Easier by Sanchez Vicario’s Loss

TORONTO — Defending champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was upset by her old doubles partner, Helena Sukova, 7-5, 6-4, Thursday at the du Maurier Ltd. Canadian Open.

Sanchez Vicario, seeded third, had played both singles and doubles matches the night before and was unable to make the quick turnaround.

The loss knocked the 1994 U.S. Open champion out of the tournament and seemed to simplify Monica Seles’ road to the final.

Seles today plays seventh-seeded Anke Huber of Germany, who fell behind early against No. 16 Irina Spirlea on Thursday, then recovered to win, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, a 6-1, 6-0 winner over Yone Kamio, is the highest remaining seeded player in Seles’ half of the draw at No. 6. Next up for Sabatini is the 13th-seeded Sukova.

Later, No. 4 Jana Novotna advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 15 Judith Wiesner.

Fifth-seeded Mary Pierce also reached the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-0 blowout of 14-year-old Martina Hingis of Switzerland that took only 40 minutes.