TinyChan

STEFFI Graf won her first title of the year by beating Monica Seles, her successor as world No 1, in the final of the US Women's Hardcourt Tennis Championships yesterday.

Graf, whose record 186 week reign on top of the women's rankings was ended earlier this month by Seles, took some revenge against the Yugoslav teenager by posting a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

"It does feel good," said Graf, who had not won since taking the Virginia Slims of New England title last November. "I feel that I'm on my way."

Victory, however, did not come easily for the German.

Seles, the defending champion, broke Graf twice, once at love, on her way to a 4-1 lead in the first set but the German battled back to win the next four games.

In the 10th game, Graf fought off two game points, then fired a forehand winner to reach set point, which she converted with a winning lob to the baseline.

"I started off real slow," said Graf who won this championship in 1988 and 1989. "Nothing felt good in the beginning. I said, 'I can do better than that' and I started getting the ball in play."

The second set went with serve through the first five games. But then Graf broke Seles at love to lead 4-2. She never lost that advantage.

Said Seles afterwards: "I think Steffi just had the big advantage on her serve. She pulled out a lot of points on her serve. I just couldn't convert those important points." - Reuter.

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