ACOG - News - IBM

(29 July 1996; Day 10)

Gold Medal Favorite SELES Falls in Quarterfinals

Top-seeded Monica SELES made an early exit from the Olympic competition Monday, losing 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 to No. 6 seed Jana NOVOTNA (CZE) in the quarterfinals of the women's singles tournament. NOVOTNA came back twice from 5-3 down to post her second-consecutive victory over SELES, the world's co-No. 1-ranked singles player. She defeated the American earlier this year in quarterfinals of the French Open.

"There is something special (about this win)," NOVOTNA said, comparing the two victories. "At the French Open we played on clay, where everybody would say I have a better chance to beat her. Monica's best surface is the hard court, that's why I appreciate it so much more. But today was a great match for both of us."

SELES had not dropped a single set coming into the match, allowing her first three opponents a combined 15 games during the Olympic tournament. SELES seemed to be following that precedent during her opening set with NOVOTNA, going up a service break to take a five games to three lead. But NOVOTNA was unwilling to give up the first set so easily, breaking back to win three straight games before serving for the set, which she won, 7-5.

"That's pretty tough to do against a player like Monica," NOVOTNA said of her comeback. "You expect her to be much better at the end of the first set, when she is up 5-3 -- a little more aggressive."

Losing her first set of the championships did not sit well with SELES, who gave up almost half the games she had awarded her three previous opponents in just one set with NOVOTNA. SELES staged a comeback of her own in the second set, breaking NOVOTNA to 4-1 before closing out at 6-3 to force a final set.

The third set looked much like a replay of the first, as SELES broke early and jumped to a 5-3 advantage before NOVOTNA began her now familiar three-game turn around.

"I kept hoping I was going to pull it out at some point in the match," SELES said. "But when she broke me 5-all (I thought), 'Wow, how many more chances are you going to need to close this out?' "

After getting the match back on serve with a 6-5 lead, NOVOTNA had her first match point on SELES' serve, but a forehand error by the Czech evened things at six games all. NOVOTNA held serve in the next game to put the match back on SELES' racquet, who lost both her serve and the match with a long forehand on the fourth match point.

"I don't think I've played as exciting a match as this in the last two years," NOVOTNA said. "You know, with so many ups and downs. I was playing against everybody today, and to play (SELES) in the stadium in her home country when you're going for a medal, I think that's pretty gutsy."

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Melissa Horton.


Return to Olympic News Menu

Select another day:
Pre July 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 August 1 2 3 4 Post


Olympic Factoid
Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Games involved a crew of 2,100 who worked with more than 3,500 performers as well as thousands of athletes who celebrated on the field of Olympic Stadium.