Frazier Is Simply No Match for Seles

Amy Frazier’s considered and well-intended plans to thwart Monica Seles in the semifinals of the Acura Classic were, in the space of 51 minutes on Saturday, appropriated and used as weapons against her.

Frazier had no answer for Seles’ punishing shots from the baseline. Few do. Seles won, 6-0, 6-2, and advanced to her fifth final of the year.

One year older than the 23-year-old Seles, Frazier acknowledged that she had far fewer weapons than her opponent. “My game is pretty one-dimensional,” she accurately noted.

With that in mind, Frazier began the match aggressively and appeared to serve notice that she intended to grab each point by the throat and throttle it. It was a bold, but, ultimately, unsupportable style. It is Seles’ game.

Seles’ deep groundstrokes drove Frazier farther and farther behind the baseline. Even in retreat, Frazier stood bravely and faced the onslaught that produced 23 winners.

“I was going to try to control the points first,” Frazier said, laughing. “Once she gets control of the point, obviously, she’s unbeatable. She hits the ball so hard and so deep, there was little I could do.”

Frazier failed to hold serve in the first set but she did threaten to break Seles and showed sportsmanship at a critical point for her. She had three break points against Seles in the fifth game but walked away from the first when she gave Seles an ace on a serve that had not been called.

Frazier, ranked No. 37, said she felt compelled to give Seles the point because the ball was so clearly in.

“I wanted to win a game, but not like that,” she said.

Frazier won here in 1994 and beat No. 8 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the quarterfinals this time. Clearly, she has been playing well, but Seles can make even fine players look silly.

“I got killed,” Frazier said. “I thought I was hitting the ball well . . . when she let me hit it.”

Seles gave an early hint in the second set that she had succumbed to Frazier’s insistent retrieving. Facing triple break point, she came up with one of the five aces she had in the match to stave off one of them. She double-faulted on the next point, however, to give Frazier the break.

Seles broke back in the next game, won her serve on an ace, then broke again to take a 3-1 lead. When she won her serve to go up 4-1, the crowd began to urge Frazier on, hoping to prolong the entertainment.

She did what she could, winning her serve and getting her second game. Seles ended that brief hope by breaking Frazier to win the match.

“I’m happy that I was attacking,” Seles said. “My serve was going well. That’s important.”

Seles will play defending champion Lindsay Davenport in this morning’s final.