Pain from Spain spoils Rios party

IT is difficult to know what has been the biggest surprise at the French Open this week Marcelo Rios's quarterfinal defeat to Spain's Carlos Moya yesterday evening, the supine way in which Venus Williams succumbed to Martina Hingis earlier in the afternoon, or the umpire who refused Anna Kournikova's request for a bathroom break on Sunday evening since he is probably the only man in history ever to have said "no" to the young Russian.

Before yesterday, Rios had won 14 consecutive matches in three weeks and five tour titles this year. Not only was the smart money riding on the diminutive Chilean to win here at Roland Garros, but also every last centime of average intelligence.

His disappointment at seeing his progress to a second Grand Slam final and first major title is compounded by his failure - by one match to reclaim the world No 1 slot he wrested from Pete Sampras for 28 days in March and April before an elbow injury forced him to slip back. Sampras's second round defeat here meant that the Chilean only had to reach the semi-finals to return to the top of the pile. Instead, the pain from Spain intervened and Rios must now contemplate the prospect of watching the American pulling away again as the tour turns from clay to Sampras's beloved grass. "I knew if I won this match, I was going to be No 1 again," Rios said, "But I wasn't thinking about that. After coming back from the injury, I played two good tournaments, but I didn't have any tough matches until Roland Garros. With Costa (in the fourth round), that was the first one. I think that one killed me a bit for the match with Moya." After threatening at one point to be overrun by teenagers, the women's semi-finals tomorrow feature two French Open 'old' stagers - three times former champion Monica Seles, who plays Hingis, and the winner here in 1989 and 1994 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who meets the second seeded American Lindsay Davenport. The pleasant surprise at Seles's appearance at the tournament only 12 days after her father Karolj's death is perhaps only surpassed by the unexpected way in which she has summoned the requisite focus to progress to the last four. Seles, who now plays with her father's wedding ring on a gold change around her neck, says she came to Roland Garros not in search of a fourth title but because it was too stressful and upsetting to be at home. "Coming in I didn't really have too much of a preparation," she said. "I worked really hard with Gavin (Hopper, her coach) the first week and it's helped me to know that if I keep this up, I'm just going to get better and better. "My dad believed whenever I stepped on the court, it was just for me. I think of him every day, but for me it's a tennis match, it's a tennis tournament. I'm doing something that I love to do." Seles last met Hingis precisely 12 months ago, Hingis winning in three sets. Little about the Swiss world No 1's impressive progress so far suggests it will be anything other than victory again as she attempts to claim the one Grand Slam title that still eludes her. If Hingis does win here, she will join an elite of four women players to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time. All that at the age of 17.

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