Hingis proves to herself she's back for good

THE gnawing anxiety which has dwelt in the mind of Martina Hingis from the beginning of this French Open, and which she has struggled to suppress in public, finally bubbled to the surface yesterday afternoon after her 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 semi-final victory over Monica Seles.

This was by far the toughest match Hingis has played since her riding accident, and the resultant surgery on her left knee. The relief of winning was palpable. "You see other players having a tough time after injury. Many don't make it back to the top again," she said.

Here was the first real admission of just how much the knee injury has been affecting her over the last six weeks, and nagging at her self-confidence.

Such has been her effortless and much admired transition from highly gifted youngster to Grand Slam champion and world number one that it seemed virtually impossible to imagine the 16-year-old Swiss could ever have a care in the world. Life was a breeze.

Then came that awkward fall and the harsh realisation that everything might be snatched from her. Suddenly Hingis was more vulnerable than at any other time in her young career, and although the public smile remained, the private fears were clearly not far below the surface.

Hingis is still having treatment, and was obviously more than a little unsure how she would fare in the face of Seles' aggression. This is not, of course, the iron-willed Seles of old, the Seles that won three successive finals here from 1990 to 1992.

The stabbing in Hamburg changed her life irrevocably, yet she still represents a considerable challenge, even though those double-fisted groundstrokes have lost their implacable accuracy and power. "I don't have the strength and intensity anymore," she said yesterday, a remark at once both truthful and poignant.

They had met three times before, the first last autumn on the indoor carpet in Oakland when Hingis simply devastated the American 6-2, 6-0. Then came the final at Lipton in March, before which Seles spent long hours practising to pulverise the Hingis serve, arguably the weakest aspect of her brilliant all-court game.

Hingis, fully aware of the threat to come, simply served quite beautifully and, with her game plan gone, Seles plummeted to another heavy, straight-sets defeat.

But Seles entered yesterday's match with greater hope, for in their third meeting at Hilton Head she had pushed Hingis to a third set tie-break. So when Seles won the first set tie-break here 7-2, the 16,000 at Roland Garros sensed the real possibility of an upset.

Hingis' freedom of movement was not in doubt, but her fore-hand was persistently vulnerable. This was never a great match in terms of quality, but the inner tensions made it never less than fascinating.

Seles so much wanted to win that it hurt; Hingis, as the possibility of victory finally presented itself in the third set, was visibly quaking with the anticipation.

"I'm more happy, than I can really show anyone, she said with an intensity of feeling that made it quite clear how much this victory meant. Seles was despondent.

In tomorrow's final Hingis will play Iva Majoli of Croatia, who had just enough variety and weight of shot, notably her fore-hand, to defeat Miss Perpetual Motion, Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

Majoli survived a tense final set with Coetzer in which both players made numerous errors.

"I'm so tired I can't even speak," said the 19-year-old Majoli, who burst into tears after the match. "It has been the best tournament of my life."

Majoli was warned for complaining after the umpire changed her mind about overruling a line-judge in the second set, but finally clinched victory by breaking her opponent's serve in the last game of the match.

Majoli's victory, in just under two-and-a-half hours, makes her the first Croatian woman to reach a singles final at a Grand Slam tournament. She had never got past the quarter-finals in previous appearances in major events.

Coetzer (25), was playing in her third Grand Slam tournament semi-final after reaching the last-four in Australia in 1996 and 1997.

The South African, who had put out defending champion Steffi Graf in the quarter-finals, said that she still felt she could be positive about her performance at this year's tournament.

"I've learned a lot these two weeks and I scored wins against Conchita Martinez and Graf, and that will give me more confidence.

"Today Iva started really well and it was difficult to get back."

Thursday's results mean that Seles will move up to take Graf's second place in the rankings when they are published on Monday, while Majoli becomes the new number five and Coetzer the number seven.

Australian doubles duo Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge will face title holders Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia and Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic in the doubles final after edging Argentinians Lucas Arnold and Daniel Orsanic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The Australian pair showed great tenacity in recovering from the loss of the first set, racing to 5-2 in the second before suffering a break which trimmed their lead to 5-4.

The top-seeded "Woodies", gold medalists last year at the Atlanta Olympics, then found themselves with three set points. And although they spurned the first two, they put away the third before going on to wrap up the match and reach the final here for the first time.