BBC SPORT | Tennis | Seles sets up all-American final

Friday's Spanish Open results

Top seed Monica Seles clawed her way back from a set down to reach the final of the Spanish Open with a 4-6 6-1 6-3 win over Argentine Paola Suarez.

The three-times French Open winner will face Chanda Rubin in Saturday's clay-court final, after the American eased to a 6-4 6-2 victory against Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia.

"It was a very hard-fought match decided on just a crucial few points," said Seles.

"Paola served very well and I had a hard time breaking her.

"It was good to play someone as aggressive as her because I expect the same in tomorrow's final."

Paola Suarez
Suarez put up a gutsy fight against Seles

Suarez, who lost to Lindsay Davenport in the 1999 final, broke Seles in the seventh game of a hotly-contested first set.

The 25-year-old Argentine went 5-4 up and then launched a pair of aces to finish off the set.

But Seles kept her composure and dropped just one game as she raced through the second set.

The turning point came in the fifth game of the final set when Seles produced some impressive passing shots to fight back from 40-love down and break the Suarez serve.

The next three games went with serve before Seles stepped up a gear to break Suarez again for victory.

Madrid finalist

Meanwhile, Rubin was rarely troubled by her lower-ranked opponent Zuluaga.

The Colombian mishit a series of forehands as Rubin broke serve in the third game of the opening set.

Although Rubin dropped her serve in the eighth game she hit back immediately with another break to lead 5-4 and serve out to win the first set.

Zuluaga, who reached the final in Madrid two years ago, raced to a 2-0 lead at the start of the third set.

But Rubin immediately broke back and then twice more in the fifth and the seventh to lead 5-2 before serving out for victory.

Semi-final results from the Spanish Open:

1-Monica Seles (US) bt Paola Suarez (Arg) 4-6 6-16-3
Chanda Rubin (US) bt Fabiola Zuluaga (Col) 6-4 6-2


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