Seles flushed out by Spirlea spirit and grit

Irina Spirlea beat second seed and former champion Monica Seles at the US Open yesterday to reach the first Grand Slam semi-final of her career. Romanian Spirlea, the 11th seed, saved a match point in the second set tie-breaker en route to a 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (10/8), 6-3 victory over Seles, whose nine Grand Slam titles include US Open victories in 1991 and 1992. Seles missed the 1993 and 1994 tournaments after being stabbed in the back during a tournament in Hamburg. She finished runner-up to Steffi Graf the past two years, making her quarter-final exit her earliest since she lost in the third round in 1990.

Spirlea sprinkled nine aces through the match, which she won when an exhausted looking Seles dumped two shots into the net.

Seles missed a chance to finish out the match in the second set tie-breaker, clawing back from 4-1 down to earn a match point at 6-5 that Spirlea saved with a sharp volley. It was Spirlea's turn next, but she hit a forehand wide on her first set point at 7-6. Seles saved the next with a cross court winner for 8-8, but gave up the set with a forehand over the baseline.

Seles also trailed 4-2 and 5-3 in the first-set tie-breaker, after they traded breaks in the opening set.

"It sounds strange," Spirlea said of her semi-finalist status. However, she said she came into the match ready to give everything to achieve it. She had never beaten Seles in four previous encounters, most recently a three-set defeat at Key Biscayne in March.

"I think I tried every point this time," Spirlea said. "I gave everything, even if I had to die on the court."

Spirlea, 23-years-old and ranked 12th in the world, knows she won't face a seeded player in the semis. She'll play the winner of the match between US teenager Venus Williams and France's Sandrine Testud.

"I should have won the match," said Seles, who had carried a 4-0 record against Spirlea into the contest. "But then I have to give her credit that she played some great tennis. She didn't choke when she was up. She went for all her shots at every point."It has been a difficult year for Seles on a much more personal level with her father - her life-long coach and formerly her constant companion on tour - battling stomach cancer. But Seles refused to blame her tennis trouble on her father's illness."That wasn't in my mind. Going into the tournament, I put that aside. She just was a clearly better tennis player today," she said.Chile's Marcelo Rios, the 10th seed, beat seventh seed Spaniard Sergi Bruguera 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. Bruguera's demise left second seed Michael Chang as the only top-nine seed left.

Sweden's Magnus Larsson advanced to his second US Open quarter-final with a straight-sets triumph over South Africa's Wayne Ferreira. Larsson, ranked 30th, beat Ferreira 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

Larsson lost 6-2, 7-5, 7-5 to Wally Masur here in a 1993 quarter-final. The Swede's best Grand Slam showing came in reaching the 1994 French Open semi-finals.

Michael change was two points from defeat before making a tremendous rally to teach the quarter finals, outlasting France's Cedric Pioline in five sets. Change won 11 of the last 12 games for a 6-3, 0-6, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 triumph in an endurance test of wills that lasted three hours and 41 minutes.He now advances to the quarter finals where he meets Rios. Change nearly lost in the fourth set, falling behind 5-2 before roaring back to avoid the same upset fate as top men's seed Pete Sampras.