Seles shocks Williams

In a tournament full of major shocks and surprises, Monica Seles has just caused another one by defeating second seed Venus Williams 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-3.

Williams went into the match as a massive favourite, having won the last two grand slam events and been undefeated in singles play since last July.

But this wasn't the formidable Williams of last year: she had suffered tendinitis in her left knee earlier in the tournament and was further hampered when she pulled a muscle in her right leg on the way to winning the first set.

She received treatment, had more strapping on her upper leg and continued, but at times her movement seemed hampered. It didn't stop her serving 14 aces and winning 83% of his first-serve points - but she also made 49 unforced errors.

Seles, who was struggling with a fever, dominated the second set with her two-fisted forehand and backhand ground-strokes regularly producing winners, and she made it one-set all 33 minutes later as Williams' error rate increased.

In the third set, with Williams limping noticeably, Seles went for the kill. She broke to lead 3-2 when Williams' wild backhand went long, hung on after she conceded three break-back points in the seventh game, and clinched the match when Williams netted a backhand.

"It was such a tough match, really weird circumstances for both of us," admitted Seles, who complained of a sore throat and fever going into the match. "We were both fighting a lot of problems within ourselves.

"Venus is such a great champion, I just got lucky there on a couple of points at the end."

The victory - Seles's first in nine matches against Williams - earns the four-time Australian Open champion a semi-final with third seed Martina Hingis.

Hingis leads 12-4 matches between them, but Seles has won the last two. Don't expect much to separate them this time around either.

"Martina is a very tough player, she's playing some of her best tennis," Seles admitted. "It's going to be a tough battle, we always play tough ones."