Seles Has Little Trouble Advancing Against Halard

NEW YORK — The featured attraction of the Virginia Slims Championships showed up at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night for a brief appearance.

On the third night of this off-Broadway production, Monica Seles provided a fleeting glimpse of her powerful game, rushing past overmatched Julie Halard of France, 6-1, 6-0, in 37 minutes.

So quickly did the defending champion and No. 1 seed brush past her first-round opponent, she still had time to make the opening curtain of a nearby Broadway musical.

Earlier, eighth-seeded Jana Novotna continued her domination of Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. The first round of this season-ending, $3 million was completed later Wednesday night when No. 6 Jennifer Capriati took on Nathalie Tauziat.

Halard made her first visit to the Garden a quick one, thanks to the world’s top-ranked player. After losing 13 points in the first set, which took 20 minutes to complete, Seles dropped just six points in the second set.

So dominating was the 17-year-old Yugoslav that the crowd cheered when, on a dead run, Halard ripped a forehand winner down the line. It was one of her rare points.

She followed another forehand winner with an ace to move to 40-15. After she netted an anxious reverse overhead volley, Halard won her only game of the match when Seles returned a second serve into the net.

The sympathetic Garden crowd roared its approval.

As far as Seles was concerned, that was just a blip on the road to the quarterfinals -- not even a bump. She did what she wanted, when she wanted and whichever way she wanted.

Halard didn’t have a better view, just a different view than the crowd had of Seles at work. And she was just as much a spectator of those wonderfully hard groundstrokes as a paying customer who needed a ticket.

Next up for Seles is Mary Joe Fernandez, the seventh seed in this 16-player field. Fernandez advanced when Helena Sukova was forced to retire with a strained hamstring muscle with the two players tied in the third set.

Novotna’s victory was her third straight over her Swiss opponent in four career meetings. Novotna moves into a quarterfinal match against second-seeded Steffi Graf, who on Monday beat Conchita Martinez 6-0, 6-3.

The tournament winds up Sunday in a best-of-5-sets final, the only time during the year that women play more than a best-of-3. Last year, Seles needed five sets to down Gabriela Sabatini.