Mauresmo enters Italian Open final

ROME, MAY 20: French 12th seed Amelie Mauresmo cruised into the final of the 1.08 million Italian Open Tennis Tournament here on Saturday...

ROME, MAY 20: French 12th seed Amelie Mauresmo cruised into the final of the 1.08 million Italian Open Tennis Tournament here on Saturday after hammering Colombian qualifier Fabiola Zuluaga 6-1, 6-2.

Seles and Mauresmo were both stretched to three sets on Friday before booking their places in the semi-finals. Mauresmo choked8217; four times at match point before scoring a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 upset win over Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, while Seles was made to struggle before beating plucky Australian teenager Jelena Dokic 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

Pavel moves up

HAMBURG: Romanian qualifier Andrei Pavel won through to the semi-finals of the 2.95 million Hamburg Masters tennis series event on Friday, beating Argentina8217;s Mariano Zabaleta, the runner-up 12 months ago, in straight sets.

Pavel won 7-5, 6-4 and now plays either third seed Magnus Norman of Sweden, the current champions race leader, or Brazilian fifth seed Gustavo Kuerten, that pair were playing their quarter-final later in a repeat of last week8217;s Rome Masters series final won by Norman.

Wildcards for Bruguera, Majoli

PARIS: Former Roland Garros champions Sergi Bruguera and Iva Majoli have been awarded wild card entries for this year8217;s French Open tournament organisers said.

Spanish clay court specialist Bruguera, 29, won the French Open in 1993 and 1994 but has slipped out of the top 100. Croatia8217;s Majoli, 22, was a surprise champion in 1997 when, as ninth seed she became the lowest seeded player to ever win a women8217;s Grand Slam event.

All the other wildcards were given to French players, including Julien Boutter and Guillaume Raoux in the men8217;s event and Alexandra Fusai and Emilie Loit in the women8217;s tournament.

The French Open begins May 29.

Hatchet buried

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HAMBURG: The German Tennis Federation DTB has buried the hatchet with rebellious National number one Nicolas Kiefer, and welcomed the 22-year-old back onto their squad for the Olympics in Sydney.

Kiefer had fallen out with team officials after refusing to play Davis Cup this year and also had a long-running feud with former team head Boris Becker.

German Davis Cup skipper Carl-Uwe Steeb confirmed the door was open for the world number 17 to join the team following a meeting on Wednesday of the DTB representatives and Kiefer8217;s entourage.

Kiefer, missing from this week8217;s Hamburg Masters series with injury, could also return to the Davis Cup fold as his relations with team officials thaw.