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Seles stabbed during tennis match

HAMBURG, Germany -- Monica Seles, the world's No. 1 women's tennis player, was stabbed in the back by a spectator during her match Friday and rushed to a hospital.

Her wound was not life-threatening. Her unidentified attacker was captured.

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Seles was attacked from behind by a man wielding a knife during a 90- second changeover between games. She screamed and ran back onto the court, where she stopped in shock, holding her bleeding back.

Seles received first-aid treatment on court and was able to stand up and walk to a waiting stretcher. She was taken to Hamburg's University Hospital.

Tournament officials said Seles suffered 'a one to two centimeter deep wound close to her spine.'

An official said her situation is not considered life-threatening.

'The blade did not penetrate her lungs and there is no blood in her lungs,' said Doug Cleary, a spokesman for the Women's Tennis Association. He saiddoctors have stabilized Seles' blood pressure, but he was unable to provide her official condition.

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The attacker was overwhelmed by security personnel and handed over to the police.

The incident, watched by a crowd of 7,000, occurred with Seles leading 6-4, 4-3 in her quarterfinal match with Magdalena Maleeva at the $375,000 Citizen Cup.

Seles, 19, had returned to the circuit following a nine-week break caused by a lingering virus.

A Serbian, Seles was born in Novi-Sad in what in the former Yugoslavia. Although her nationality is listed as Yugoslavia, she has lived in Sarasota, Fla., for the last few years.

Seles received a death threat during the Wimbledon Championships last year. The written threat was made by Croatian militants and led to heightened security during the competition.

There was no attack, however, and the sender of the threat was never caught.

Seles had come under criticism from Croatian players, most notably Goran Ivanisevic, last year for refusing to take a stand in the Serbian- Croatian conflict.

Seles had been out of action since Feb. 21 after a severe case of the flu left her in a weakened condition. She was forced to withdraw from four consecutive tournaments and took a wild card entry into the Hamburg event in order to prepare for the Italian Open and the next Grand Slam event, the French Open, in late May.

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Seles has been the most dominant woman in the game for the last three years, and has ranked as No. 1 continuously since Sept. 9, 1991. She has won seven of the last eight Grand Slam championships she has played. During 1991 and 1992 Seles compiled a match record of 144-11, winning 20 tournaments, and only once during those two years did she fail to reach a final.

Earlier in the day, Katerina Maleeva became the first of the Maleeva sisters to drop out of the tournament, where they had made women's history as the first three sisters to reach the quarterfinals of a big tournament.

The eighth-seeded Bulgarian fell to No. 2 Steffi Graf of Germany, 6- 3, 6-1. Graf has yet to lose a match in the seven-year history of the tournament.

No. 5 seed Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere of Switzerland was scheduled to play later Friday against Spain's Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

No. 4 seed Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic opened the day with a convincing 6-1, 6-3 win over sixth-seeded Anke Huber of Germany to set up a quarterfinal with Graf.

Graf went through a short slump halfway through the opening set with Katerina Maleeva on the sun-drenched center court. After jumping to a 4- 0 lead, Graf allowed Maleeva to pull within one game at 4-3.

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Graf then stepped up her performance and won the next two games and the set. She completed the victory in 70 minutes.

The ninth-ranked Novotna broke a 1-1 deadlock with five straight games to take the opening set in 32 minutes against Huber. Huber, ranked 10th on the WTA computer, rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the second set to tie at 3-3 with the help of three double faults by Novotna in the sixth game.

However, the 24-year-old Novotna came back to win the next three games, clinching the match with a pin-point backhand passing shot.

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