AMERICAN 19 year old Chanda Rub in battled for, more than three and a half hours to overcome third seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday to reach her first ever Grand Slam semi final. She now meets Monica Seles.
Rubin, the 13th seed, sealed a marathon third set 16-14 on her sixth match point to win a standing ovation from the packed Flinders Park Centre Court after a see saw struggle.
The epic encounter delayed men's second seed Andre Agassi's showpiece clash with fellow American Jim Courier, which was then pushed back until today by rain with the number eight seed leading 5-4 in the first set. Michael Chang earlier became the first to reach the semi finals by beating Swede Mikael Tillstrom 6-0 6-2 6-4 in one hour and 16 minutes.
Rub in, who turns 20 next month, finally took her marathon match 6-4 2-6 16-14 with a rasping volley after earlier conceding a match point at 14-13 on Sanchez Vicario's service when a deep drive from the Spaniard looked suspiciously long.
The crowd booed loudly but Rubin, who had earlier let slip two match points at 5-4 on Sanchez Vicario's service, did not let her head drop.
"I just wanted to stay in there and keep "fighting" Rubin said. "I wanted to keep fighting no matter how long it took."
At three hours 33 minutes it was the longest women's match in the history of the Australian Open and also broke the Open record for the most games in a set and the most games in a women's match 48.
It was the sixth longest women's match recorded in the Open era. An exhausted Rub in, who won a marathon three hour 45 minute match against Patricia Hy Boulais at Wimbledon last year, said it had been her most satisfying victory.
"It feels great to be in the semifinals of a Grand Slam it's huge," she said.
Sanchez Vicario, a finalist at the last two Australian Opens, was not too disappointed indeed she was elated by the quality of the tennis in the two hour 22 minute third set.
"It's hard that one of us had to lose, but I am happy with myself, played a great match and I gave everything," she said.
The crowd appreciated the tennis, particularly Rubin's do or die approach with her booming forehands either winning points or going well wide. Her unforced errors were an astonishing 96 against Sanchez Vicario's 48.
She will be tackling Monica Seles for the first time. The number one seed demolished 18 year old Croatian Iva Majoli 6-1-6-2 in the day's first quarter final.
Seles, bidding for her first Grand Slam title since returning to tennis after her stabbing in April 1993, damaged a tendon above her ankle during the second set and there are now worries about her fitness.
The 22 year old joint world number one, hot favourite to win her ninth Grand Slam title in the absence of Steffi Graf, reeled off nine straight games to take the first set in 22 minutes and raced to a 3-0 lead in the second. But in the fourth game, Seles said she felt a tendon pull above the right ankle. "It made it hard when you push off," she said.
Majoli a quarter finalist at last year's French Open, courageously saved two match points and had three break points in a marathon last game before Seles sealed the match with a forehand winner.
In today's two remaining quarter finals, Germany's eighth seeded Anke Huber was playing world number two Conchita Martinez, while unseeded Swiss prodigy Martina Hingis was meeting 16th seeded South African Amanda Coetzer.
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