Seles comeback stopped short in Madrid

Monica Seles had her comeback from a serious foot injury stopped short on Wednesday as she was handed a 7-5 2-6 6-4 defeat by Rossana de los Rios in the second round of the Spanish Open.

The top-seeded American, who only returned to full training last week after suffering the injury in early March, had been hoping for a good run in Madrid in preparation for the French Open, where she is the sixth seed.

She had a good workout against the Paraguayan de los Rios but complained afterwards that she still felt out of touch.

"My timing was wrong," she said after her only match of the clay-court event. "One of the main reasons I came to Madrid was to try to play as many games as possible.

"I'll now travel to Paris on Thursday and get some practice in.

"I'm fully recovered from my injury but I can't expect too much having not played for almost three months."

Second seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario came through her opening game of the tournament as Barbara Rittner of Germany was forced to retire with a hamstring strain after the Spaniard had taken the first set on the tie-break.

Number eight seed Angeles Montolio continued her excellent run with a 3-6 6-1 6-2 win over fellow Spaniard Maria Antonio Sanchez.

Lisa Raymond of the United States, seeded sixth, and French third seed Sandrine Testud both cruised through to the second round with straight-sets victories.