/ 8 September 1998

Amanda triumphs in monster match

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.15pm.

SOUTH African pint-sized Amanda Coetzer, seeded 13th in the US Open Championships, fought her way through an 150-minute monster match at Flushing Meadows on Monday to oust Spaniard Conchita Martinez.

Coetzer’s victory secures her a place in the quarter finals of the Grand Slam event.

Both baseline sloggers, the match had one game that ran into 28 points, including 11 deuces, taking 20 minutes, 25 seconds– easily the longest game in this year’s event.

Martinez, seeded seventh, took a medical timeout to have her right shoulder worked on after the first game of the second set match.

Coetzer now faces the winner of a match to be played later on Monday between second-seeded Lindsay Davenport and tenth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat.