PARIS, Feb 8: Evergreen Monica Seles continued to defy the years as well as extending her dominance over Justine Henin when she brushed aside the challenge of the Belgian girl 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the 585,000-dollar Paris indoor tournament here Friday.

It was Seles’ fourth career triumph over Henin, who was Wimbledon runner-up last year, and she now faces Yugoslavia’s Jelena Dokic on Saturday for a place in Sunday’s final.

Fourth-seeded Dokic came from a set down to defeat Russia’s Elena Dementieva 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals.

Second-seed Henin had looked to be on course for her first career win over the veteran American when she broke to lead 4-3 in the opening set. However, Seles hit straight back to level at 4-4 and broke again in the 10th game to take the first set 6-4.

A break in the eighth game of the second set was enough to send Seles on her way to her 69-minute victory and put her just two matches away from securing what would be her 52nd career title.

Meanwhile, Dokic pulled off her third successive win over Dementieva who she also beat in the final in Moscow last year when she clinched her third career title.

But she stepped up her game in the second set breaking twice to set up a final set in which poor Dementieva was completely outclassed.

Although the Russian struck first to lead 2-0 in the third set, Dokic then dominated her opponent allowing her just two points in the next four games as she sped into a 4-2 lead.

A Dementieva double-fault then gave Dokic a break to lead 5-2 before she served successfully for the match after 86 minutes on court.

Results

Quarterfinals: Monica Seles bt Justine Henin 6-4, 6-3; Jelena Dokic bt Elena Dementieva 5-7, 6-1, 6-2; Venus Williams bt Silvia Farina Elia 6-, 61.—AFP