Seles' grunting annoys Capriati

Seles was back in top form against her old rival

Defeated Jennifer Capriati hit out at the noise made by Monica Seles in her staight-sets victory in California.

Seles cruised to a 6-3 6-3 win in the WTA Acura Classic in San Diego to set up a semi-final against Martina Hingis.

Capriati was unhappy after the defeat and claimed that Seles' grunting on each shot was "like interference".

She committed 24 unforced errors in the 52-minute loss to her former doubles partner.

"I never really got in a groove. From the first point she was really aggressive and she was screaming at the top of her lungs," Capriati added.

The grunting was at a level that was acceptable

  Chair umpire Denis Overberg

She complained to chair umpire Denis Overberg in the second set which led to WTA Tour supervisor Clare Wood monitoring the situation.

"I didn't feel it was a deliberate hindrance," Wood said.

"In my opinion, the grunting was at a level that was acceptable."

Seles was surprised at Capriati's reaction: "I did nothing differently during this match, changed nothing, so I feel I have nothing to defend."

In the other matches, fourth-seeded American Lindsay Davenport struggled to a 6-2 5-7 7-6 (7/5) victory over 12th-seeded Sandrine Testud of France while Venus Williams beat Nathalie Tauziat 6-2 6-2.

Those two results mean a repeat of this year's Wimbledon semi-final, which saw Williams prevail.

Martina Hingis beat Ai Sugiyama 6-3 6-4 to set up a semi-final against Monica Seles.

I'm so happy things went my way

  Monica Seles

In a match where both players struggled to hold serve, Hingis finally earned a decisive break in the ninth game of the second set, then served out the match to move into the last four.

The Swiss star has beaten Seles in 12 of their 14 meetings, including the most recent seven clashes.

Seles shrugged off the grunting row, and is looking forward to her next match.

"I'm so happy things went my way today," Seles said.

"I played incredible. To play well here again is very satisfactory."

Seles has only just returned to the game after a five-month absence because of a foot injury.

Capriati, the Australian and French Open champion, looked tired as the former rivals slugged it out from the baseline.

The 27-year-old Seles had an 8-4 career record against Capriati going into the match, but lost to her in the Australian Open quarter-finals in January.

The pair, who were often up against each other in the early stages of their careers, met in the 1991 final in this tournament when Capriati triumphed in a third-set tie-breaker.