Seles Upsets Hingis at Montreal

Monica Seles upset top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, Saturday in the semifinals of the du Maurier Open women’s tennis championship at Montreal.

Seles advanced to today’s final against against third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, who beat second-seeded Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

Seles, 24, who was seeded fifth, has won the last three du Maurier tournaments.

“This tournament just seems to bring out the best in me at key times,” Seles said. “Like today, I woke up at a key time.”

Hingis, 17, did not lose a service game until Seles broke for a 5-3 lead in the second set. Seles added two early breaks in the third set to seal the victory.

“I really started to play well as the match went on,” Seles said. “I actually think she was lucky to win the first set. Everything just went well for me today.”

Hingis, who won three grand slam tournaments last year, has four tournament victories in 1998 but has not won since the Italian Open in May and may soon be in danger of losing the No. 1 ranking she has held since March 31, 1997.

“I’m just having trouble right now winning a whole tournament,” Hingis said. “I always play pretty solidly, but have trouble to win the whole thing.

“But we’ll see what happens at the U.S. Open [in two weeks].”

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Fifth-seeded Andre Agassi, who has played in two finals already this hardcourt season, played his way into a third by defeating 21-year-old Ramon Delgado of Paraguay, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, in the RCA Championship at Indianapolis.

Agassi will meet sixth-seeded Spaniard Alex Corretja in the finals today. Corretja, the French Open runner-up, defeated 15th-seeded Todd Martin, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), in the other semifinal.

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Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia defeated defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, 6-3, 6-4, in the semifinals of the Pilot Pen International at New Haven, Conn., and will meet seventh-seeded Karol Kucera of Slovakia in today’s final.

Kucera defeated fourth-seeded Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands, 6-7 (8-6), 6-4.

Boxing

Fernando Vargas of Oxnard improved to 14-0 with a sixth-round technical knockout of Darren Maciunski in a junior-middleweight fight at Atlantic City, N.J.

In the lightweight main event, Ivan Robinson recorded a split-decision victory over Arturo Gatti.

Ed Mahone of Los Angeles retained his North American Boxing Organization heavyweight title on a majority technical draw over Albert Williams, after referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight in the sixth round at Las Vegas.

Bayless ruled that Williams was unable to continue as a result of an accidental head butt.

Charles Brewer stopped fellow American Antoine Byrd in the third round with a flurry of punches to successfully defend his International Boxing Federation super-middleweight title at Leipzig, Germany.

Miscellany

Andre Blom and Mark Scharrenberg helped send the United States to the 1999 Rugby World Cup with a 21-16 victory over Uruguay at Buenos Aires. The U.S. became the seventh team to qualify for the 20-nation finals in Britain, Ireland and France.

Eight Little League teams, including one from Cypress, begin play today in the Little League World Series at Williamsport, Pa. The championship game is Saturday. Cypress, one of four U.S. teams in the competition, plays Toms River, N.J., on Monday.

Heike Drechsler of Germany won the women’s long jump at the European Championships at Budapest, Hungary, with a jump of 23 feet six inches. Drechsler’s jump was the fourth best in the world this year. The top three were made by Marion Jones.

Middleweight Antwun Echols, ranked No. 2 in the IBF, was arrested on weapons and stalking charges at Davenport, Iowa.

Echols posted bond and was released after his arrest Thursday. He is accused of driving next to a Davenport woman and firing shots at her van, Davenport police Detective Larry Gillaspie said.