Pierce routs Seles in Moscow

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Oct 23, 1998

Seles and Pierce battle in Moscow
It's great that my two favourite players reached the final of a Tier I event. While Seles, as second seed, was destined to reach the final, the path for Pierce was a little more difficult. She needed three sets to dispose of 16th ranked Ai Sugiyama and faced her French Open conqueror, Magui Serna, in the quarter finals. And then the big one: top seed Venus Williams. While Venus was clearly unable to play and move at her best level, Mary was able to take advantage and raise her game to defeat her opponent in three sets.

Monica Seles had an easier time, disposing all of her opponents in straight sets. She impressively defeated 23rd ranked Silvia Farina 6-0 6-1 before posting a hard fought victory over an in-form Sandrine Testud 6-3 7-6.

The final was a tough battle for both players, with both being broken in the first set to take it to a tiebreak. Monica seemed to reel off too many unforced errors in the tiebreak which set her up for a bad second set against the aggressive groundstrokes and service of Mary Pierce. In addition to her victory, Mary also collected the doubles trophy, partnering former doubles #1 Natasha Zvereva. Winning without dropping a set throughout the entire tournament was impressive, including a 6-4 6-1 victory over Anna Kournikova and Monica Seles.

Mary Pierce picked up her 11th career title, her 3rd title and 1st Tier I title of the year and more importantly, $165,000 for the singles victory.

Ladies' Kremlin Cup - Moscow
Prize Money: $1,000,000; Champion's Prize Money: $165,000
Tier I; Surface: Carpet (Supreme)

Status of the Seeds