French Open

PARIS -- Monica Seles, whose father, Karolj, died of cancer May 14, has alerted the Corel WTA Tour by fax that she intends to play in the French Open, which will begin tomorrow.Seeded sixth, Seles will play Annabel Ellwood of Australia in the first round and probably seek a Tuesday start.Seles, who won the French Open in 1990, 1991 and 1992, has played only 12 matches this year, winning eight.At her father's urging, she played the Italian Open on May 4-10, where she defeated Silvia Farina and lost in the second round to Sandrine Testud.

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PARIS -- First he brought a decidedly overwhelmed Michael Chang, the grown-up version of the 17-year-old 1989 French Open champion, to his knees on the clay of Roland Garros; then Thomas Muster, the new and undisputed king of red clay, dropped onto his back and rubbed his eyes in disbelief after finally scaling and prevailing on the surface of his dreams."

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PARIS -- No. 16 seed Sergi Bruguera isn't supposed to be here. Oh, sure, he's a wonderful clay-court player. And sure, he's a two-time French Open champion. But Bruguera himself said before the tournament started that he had no hope of winning the French Open.And, yet, hope lives.All but one of the seeds are gone from Roland Garros today, as the men's final of the French Open is about to be played. Only Bruguera, who has not won a tournament in three years, is left to represent the top-ranked men on Court Central.

PARIS -- They are the two men standing in the way of the most eagerly anticipated French Open men's final since John McEnroe faced Ivan Lendl in 1984. David Nalbandian of Argentina and Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia. So, just how do you say the word "spoiler" in one of the several languages Ljubicic speaks, or in Nalbandian's native tongue, Spanish? It may be of use because a French Open final between top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland and No. 2 and defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain -- while highly desired by those tennis fans not living in Croatia or Argentina -- is hardly a sure thing.

PARIS - And so Argentines everywhere had their prayers answered yesterday. Four of their compatriots are in the semifinals of the French Open. Three of the four are men. First, unseeded Gaston Gaudio, a modest man with a bold backhand, thoroughly broke down Lleyton Hewitt, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, in one hour, 55 minutes. Then, David Nalbandian, using controlled offense and carefully plotted defense, wore out the tiring three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6). That sends No. 8 seed Nalbandian and Gaudio against each other tomorrow, guaranteeing that at least one Argentine will reach the French final for the first time since Guillermo Vilas won the tournament in 1977.

PARIS -- And the crowd's will was done.As No. 1 Martina Hingis wilted under the deluge of 16,000 manic voices cheering and raging for Steffi Graf, Graf, the 29-year-old former champion, thrived."

PARIS -- There was a flurry of not altogether unexpected activity yesterday, which conveniently served as sort of a final warm-up for the French Open, which will begin today.* Ivan Lendl, a three-time winner, pulled out because his surgically repaired right hand has not healed fully.* John McEnroe, practicing with Jimmy Connors, got into an argument with a French photographer and had to be pulled away by coach Antonio Palafox.* Andre Agassi began making plans on how to spend two weeks in a city that those who live here regard as the capital of all true culture.

PARIS -- Every day in Paris they share a practice court, th stocky red-haired player who's seeded ninth at the French Open and the big former Northwestern University star who needed to qualify just to be here.And every night they eat the same thing in the same place at the same time; tennis players, regardless of their status, seem to be creatures of habit.Jim Courier, one of the clay-court artisans with legitimate designs on winning this Grand Slam event, always allows his friend Todd Martin, a Grand Slam and clay-court novice who retains a smattering of French from his days as a linguistics major, to do the ordering.

PARIS — One French Open analyst this week described world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki as playing "moonballing nonsense," and after she and No. 2 seed Kim Clijsters crashed out, the women's game generally is under heavy criticism. Wozniacki, the top seed despite never having won a Grand Slam event, was completely outplayed in a 6-1, 6-3 third-round loss to 28th seed Daniela Hantuchova on Friday, leaving the draw even more wide open than it was before the clay-court event began. Clijsters lost on Thursday to unknown youngster Arantxa Rus, while a 2010 finalist, Samantha Stosur, seeded eighth, was beaten on Friday by unseeded Gisela Dulko.

Venus Williams won her opening match at the French Open by beating Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday. Williams' victory was no surprise coming against an opponent who fell to 0-11 versus the seven-time Grand Slam champion. But Williams' movement boded well for her matches to come. She attacked aggressively and scrambled after balls, often extending points until Schnyder would blow an easy shot. Her 27-4 record this year is the best on the women's tour. Last week, Williams climbed for the first time since 2003 to second in the rankings, trailing only her younger sister, Serena.

PARIS -- In the swirling wind of Roland Garros Stadium early yesterday evening, a new French Open champion blew across Center Court, dropped an ace on the line at match point and then flopped backward, covering himself in red clay.This is how Jim Courier, a 20-year-old from Dade City, Fla., celebrated winning his first Grand Slam final on his first try, with a special communion between victor and battlefield.As shadows began to creep across the court, Courier worked his way into French Open history and kept Andre Agassi out of it with a 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.

PARIS -- With layers of red clay staining their clothes from weeks of preparation for the French Open, all of tennis' top stars had arrived in Paris by Friday -- with the exception of Andre Agassi, the men's top seed.Agassi made an appearance in Europe three weeks ago at the German Open, trying to get used to red clay, but left after being upset in the quarterfinals by Sergi Bruguera.Agassi always has made it clear that he enjoys Taco Bell food and Clint Eastwood movies over the creamy cuisine and ambience of Paris, but as the No. 1 player in the world, he is trying to adjust.