Swirling winds blowing desert sand around the Coachella Valley created havoc in Indian Wells today. The mountains surrounding the site were almost totally obscured by the wind-blown sand. Even the freeway running through the valley had to be closed because of reduced visibility.

Tennis-wise, today was an aesthetic disaster. The conditions caused play on the more exposed outer courts to be suspended on two occasions. Players sometimes had difficulty hitting the ball, let alone putting it in play. Seeing the ball was also a problem because of sand blowing in the players' eyes, and courts were rendered dangerously slippery by sand being carried by the gusts onto the court.

Almost unanimously, the players said these were the windiest conditions they had ever faced. The comments of Marat Safin, who defeated Paradorn Srichaphan 7-5, 6-1 in the featured evening match, expressed the sentiments of many players: "I think they should make a rule that when it's too much wind, you cannot play. It's way too much."

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Monica Seles (4) def. Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario (9), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Quarterfinal
Stadium
Previous head-to-head: Seles leads 19-3

To say that Monica Seles (pictured at right) has dominated Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario in their long careers is an understatement. Before today, Seles had won 19 of their 22 meetings, going back to 1989. Make that 20 of 23 now. Today the Spanish veteran had some excellent chances to post a rare win over her nemesis, but faltered at two key moments of the third set in very difficult playing conditions.

The swirling, dusty winds played a factor in this match, as they also did in all the others. "It was just extremely windy, but also the sand in your eyes and on the tennis court, being slippery," commented Seles after the match. "Every changeover I had to take a wet towel and just take the sand out of my eyes." Sánchez also had never seen anything like this: "I don't think I ever play with this wind, and so much sand into your eyes and into the court," said the Spaniard. "It was kind of hard to see th e ball." Of course, there were a fair share of badly mistimed and mis-hit shots. Given the brutal conditions, however, Monica and Arantxa put on a remarkably good show..

Seles has a reputation of not being a particularly good wind player. But she actually looked more comfortable than Sánchez at the outset, serving well despite occasional problems with wind-blown ball tosses, and worrying the Spaniard's serve with deep, hard returns. Seles raced to a 4-1 lead, and kept in front for the rest of the set. Sánchez had an opening with Seles serving at 5-3, but was unable to capitalize on 2 break points. Seles closed out the 6-3 first set, serving solidly with the wind at he r back as exemplified by a 106 mph service winner on her first set point.

Early in the second set we learned that matches on the outer courts were suspended. However, play carried on in the main stadium. "I don't think we had that option because of TV," noted Seles. Sánchez now became more aggressive, sneaking to the net effectively, and hitting with more pace through the wind. The Spanish speedster registered the only service break of the set in game 6, taking a 4-2 lead on the strength of some sharply struck cross-court winners. Like Seles in the first set, Arantxa had s ome nervous moments serving out the set at 5-3 with the wind at her back. Seles had three break points: 2 were sabotaged by Seles baseline errors, and Sánchez saved a third with a 98 mph ace. Sánchez finally earned a set point after 3 deuces, and struck a service winner down the middle to level the match.

Early in the third set, Sánchez went ahead with an early break of serve. But she missed a glorious opportunity to take command of the match by losing her serve at 2-1. On this game's second deuce, a risky Seles backhand landed smack on the line, drawing a roar of approval from the pro-Seles crowd. Then on break point, Monica mashed a backhand return winner off a weak, 69 mph second serve. Arantxa felt her inability to hold serve in this game was the turning point of the match. "If I would have won th e game of 2-1 in the third with my serve, everything will be different."

The third set stayed on serve until game 8, Arantxa serving at 3-4. With the score 30-30, the Spaniard had a routine forehand volley on her racquet, but dumped it into the net. Monica cashed in on the break point with a splendidly angled crosscourt forehand winner. Sánchez commented on this key sequence: "I was against the wind and didn't hit hard enough the volley, so it stayed into the tape. Then she hits an unbelievable winner, so she makes the break. It would be a big difference if I make that vol ley, I would have game point to go 4-all. As I say, chances like that, you don't have many."

Now serving for the match at 5-3, Seles raced to a 40-0 lead to earn 3 match points. Sánchez saved the first with a strong forehand approach, finshed off by an overhead. Match point #2: double fault! Match point #3: double fault!! But Seles recovered from her attack of nerves. At deuce she got her second serve in, and played an aggressive point capped with a forehand putaway winner. Match point #4: finally a solid first serve, out wide, that Monica follows to the net to smash a winning overhead. The two veterans give each other a nice accolade at the net with a warm double cheek-kiss. Make the final: 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 Seles, and a berth in the semifinals for the popular American.

Next up in the semis for Seles is her good friend and frequent rival, Martina Hingis, who trounced Amanda Coetzer 6-1, 6-2, in today's other quarterfinal. Hingis has been razor-sharp this week. The Swiss star has yet to lose a set, conceding just 13 games in 4 matches. Hingis has a dominant 14-4 career record against Seles, but Monica beat Martina twice last year and her two losses this year came in close, three-set matches. Obviously Hingis hopes her success against Seles continues. "B ut any time you have to be ready for her. She's a tough opponent." Seles previews the match this way: "I'm hoping there will be decent conditions out there. Just definitely play better than today."

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Men's seeds scattered in the wind

Today's action claimed three more men's seeds:

• Tommy Haas (5) (lost to Todd Martin, 6-4, 6-2):
  A disappointingly limp showing by Haas, who explained that he is having problems with his right shoulder. "It's a tendon that's a little overplayed, I guess, a lot of fluids in there." He plans to play the Miami tournament next week, and then consult his physician in Germany about the best course of action to treat the condition.
• Jiri Novak (13) (lost to Jan-Michael Gambill, 6-4, 6-2):
  This result was not too surprising, since Gambill plays well on the U.S. hard courts and reached the quarterfinals here last year.
• Alex Corretja (16) (lost to Juan Ignacio Chela, 6-4, 6-0):
  Not too surprising here either, despite the fact that Alex won this tournament two years ago. Corretja has won only three matches all year, while Chela is having a fine season and also beat Corretja last week in Scottsdale.

As we head to the round of 16, only 6 seeds remain. Furthermore, there is only one seed-versus-seed matchup in tomorrow's third round: Marat Safin (7) versus Tim Henman (9). The most upset-ridden quarters of the draw are the second and the fourth, where Pete Sampras (10) and Yevgeny Kafelnikov (2), respectively, are the only seeds left standing.

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Wandering in the desert

Fuming Fernando

We were curious to get a glimpse of 21-year-old Chilean qualifier Fernando González today, as he faced fellow South American Gastón Gaudio of Argentina. The hard-hitting 21-year-old is ranked 14th in the Champions Race, by virtue of a fourth round appearance at the Australian Open and a clay court title in his native land. This match was played on Stadium 3, the only court that was fairly well sheltered from the wind.

There is rarely a dull mement with Fernando González. Not only does he whack just about every ball as hard as he can, he has a very stormy on-court temper. By the second game of the match he was already into some serious racquet-slamming and yelling. "He's a head case," judged the gentleman behind me a bit scornfully. "Yeah, that's too bad," opined his somewhat more sympathetic wife.

Fernando also takes the ball selection ritual to an extreme never before seen on tour. When he asks for a ball from the ball kid during his service games, he always rejects it, tapping it back immediately without inspecting it. Then he will sometimes ask for the same ball to be thrown back. Fernando is a strapping young man with large hands, and he sometimes holds not 2, not 3, but 4 balls in his large right paw before choosing the one he wants to serve with.

Oh yes, the selective and tempestuous González lost to Gaudio, a speedy, patient and smart player, 6-2, 7-5. Gaudio will next play another big hitter, Julien Boutter of France, in the third round. Boutter eliminated Greg Rusedski today on one of the windier side courts.

Justine's backhand gets some work

One of the signature shots in women's tennis is Justine Henin's dynamic one-handed backhand. She has said several times in the past that it is a natural stroke that she has never really needed to practice. It seems those days of innocence are over. Henin's backhand seemed unusually timid this week, and her opponents have recently been playing to that side, breaking it down. Today we saw the Belgian on the practice courts with coach Carlos Rodriguez, and they were working on that suddenly shaky backhand. Rodriguez was telling his pupil that she has been cutting short her follow-through, and was working with her to finish the stroke with a fuller body turn and extension.

Quotable quotes

After his win over James Blake in yesterday's evening match, Jan-Michael Gambill was asked about the match. However, Jan-Michael just wanted to talk about his socks. "I don't know if anyone noticed, but I'm not wearing completely black socks anymore. What do you think? I'm so pumped." None of the reporters seemed to care particularly about the socks, but after 7 more questions went by, someone finally humoured Gambill and asked about his new footwear. "These are the new clima-cool socks," expla ined Jan-Michael. "They're actually pretty comfortable and pretty cool-looking. I'm stoked on these."