SELES, MAURESMO FINAL AT ITALIAN OPEN IN ROME

May 20, 2000

ROME - Fifth seed Monica Seles of the United States, who has 46 career titles, and 12th seed Amelie Mauresmo of France, who has just two, today advanced to the finals of the $1.08 million Italian Open in Rome.

Seles dispatched American Corina Morariu, the top-ranked doubles player in the world, 6-3, 6-1, and Mauresmo routed Colombian qualifier Fabiola Zuluaga, 6-1, 6-2.

A former world No. 1, Seles has come back from a broken foot to win two tournaments this season. She won this event in 1990 by defeating Martina Navratilova, 6-1, 6-1, and was a finalist the next two years.

Seles captured her 45th career title at Oklahoma City in February following a six-month layoff due to a stress fracture in her right foot. She also successfully defended her crown at Amelia Island and joins Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport as the only players to win more than one title this year.

Seles has reached at least the semifinals in her last four WTA Tour events and five this year.

The 20-year-old Mauresmo, last year's Australian Open runner-up, defeated a pair of top-10 players to reach the semifinals. After ousting Mary Pierce of France, she held off former French Open champion and sixth seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, in the quarterfinals.

Mauresmo claimed her second career singles title at Sydney, Australia this year by defeating Hingis in the semifinals and Davenport in the final. She also was runner-up at Bol two weeks ago.

The finalists have never faced each other. First prize is $166,900.