Seles crashes out to qualifier

Stephanie Foretz is ranked 109 in the world

Click here for Thursday's results from Charleston

Second seed Monica Seles was sent crashing out of the Family Circle Cup by French qualifier Stephanie Foretz in straight sets on Thursday.

Foretz, ranked 109 in the world, used her aggressive groundstrokes to sweep past Seles 6-4 7-6 (8/6) and secure a place in the quarter-finals.

Her only other appearance in the last eight of a WTA Tour event was a three-set defeat to Seles in Shanghai last year.

She just played too good on the key points

Monica Seles

"I played her last year in Shanghai and I played good there," said Foretz. "I talked with my coach (Bruno Dadillion) today, and we said I had a chance.

"My forehand and backhand were very important because she's very fast and I had to move her a lot.

"I had to serve good because she can return a second serve very well."

The Frenchwoman made a blistering start, racing to a 4-1 lead in the first set with two breaks of serve and recovering from 5-3 down in the second.

Foretz wasted two match points at 6-4 up in the tie-break, but a fierce backhand gave her a third chance and Seles handed her the match by dumping a backhand in the net.

"She just played too good on the key points," said Seles. "Whenever I had chances, she closed the door on them, and I didn't really take control of the match.

"I think I probably had a lot of unforced errors and double faults and stuff like that."

I just felt like today wasn't my day

Mary Pierce

Jennifer Capriati made comfortable progress, beating French qualifier Alexandra Fusai 6-3 7-5.

The only drama came as the match was delayed because a propane truck ran into a police car and caught fire behind the complex, leading to a brief evacuation.

"I guess nobody was here, the crowd, my opponent," Capriati said. "I couldn't really start without anyone to play."

The American made 42 unforced errors and lost serve three times.

"I made some errors here and there that I shouldn't have, but she's a good player, and obviously a clay court specialist.

"I think I'm still making the adjustment to the surface."

Mary Pierce was beaten by Switzerland's Patty Schnyder 7-6 6-2, but refused to be too harsh on herself.

"I just felt like today wasn't my day," she said. "But I think my game is starting to come back and I'm moving better on the court, serving better."

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Thursday's third round results from the Family Circle Cup (seeds are in bold):

7 S Testud (Fra) bt J Craybas (US) 6-3 6-2
P Schnyder (Swi) bt M Pierce (Fra) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2
1 J Capriati (US) bt A Fusai (Fra) 6-3 7-5
A Myskina (Rus) bt C Fernandez (Arg) 3-6 6-4 6-4
I Majoli (Cro) bt A Smashnova (Isr) 6-1 3-6 6-2
S Foretz (Fra) bt 2 M Seles (US) 6-4 7-6 (8-6)
13 A Coetzer (SA) bt P Suarez (Arg) 3-6 7-5 6-3

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