QUESTION: Monica, was Mary playing that well today or were you off your game or what do you think was the problem out there today?

SELES: I think probably a combination of both. I just felt really flat out there and Mary didn't give me any breaks to really kind of get myself together, and just really was flat.

QUESTION: Any explanation for why?

SELES: I don't know. I guess maybe today was the day that all the tennis games drew to me a little bit and I wasn't leading as well and I wasn't really running for the ball, and against Mary I have to, and she never really gave me a chance to kind of get into that state.

QUESTION: You were losing your serve.

SELES: Uh-huh. Well, definitely I knew that coming in that she's going to punish it compared to the other players that I play, but in one day I'm not going to be able to change that, so now hopefully I'll have a few weeks to figure out what I want to do with my serve and then just go from there on.

QUESTION: How many tournaments in a row have you played coming into this?

SELES: Oklahoma, Scottsdale, Indian Wells, Lipton. Six.

QUESTION: Do you think that's too much?

SELES: It's a lot. I think it has come up a lot maybe the last few days, but still Mary is just a better player out there today. That means I still have to work on my recovery time in terms of conditioning, so that's something to look forward to the next few weeks that I have off before I play in Rome.

QUESTION: Knowing that Arantxa is going to play Mary, do you all ever compare notes, Here's what you gotta worry about?

SELES: No, not amongst players.

QUESTION: How do you see that match going?

SELES: I don't think they've played in a while on clay, so it's obviously Arantxa's favorite surface. I think it's going to be a very close match, but it's hard to predict a match.

QUESTION: Is this the best you've seen Mary serve?

SELES: Definitely, yeah.

QUESTION: She's got a lot of confidence out there. Does that work against you, too?

SELES: It's really when I play someone, I don't worry too much about themselves. I just worry about myself, and today I could not get myself up to the level that I needed to, and I try not to worry about my opponent.

QUESTION: How do you feel overall after having a letdown like that about how you're playing right now?

SELES: Well, you try to learn something from every loss or every win. Obviously it's much harder to take the losses, especially in the semis that you come out so flat. I had a couple this year like this, but you try to figure out why and just try to work on that so you can't repeat too many more times.

QUESTION: Any comparison between this match and when you played Hingis a couple weeks ago?

SELES: Both matches I came out very flat, but that was a totally different type of match.

QUESTION: You were injured that day?

SELES: Yes.

QUESTION: As you go along you're both considered power players. Would you have considered changing your style and being more finesse and short shots and things like that against her?

SELES: Not too much. I had less than 12 hours to get ready for this match. I think to do that much, I mean I just went to sleep, woke up and played, so that would have been too hard.

QUESTION: Were you tired from last night at all do you think?

SELES: I came out flat. I don't know. I'm definitely a little bit tired, but still, Mary played some great tennis. She didn't give me any chances to kind of get going. Everything was happening very fast out there.

QUESTION: Monica, when you finally made the trip here for the first time after a few false starts, you went to the finals. Did you think at the time that you might have some more chances to win this thing?

SELES: Oh, yeah, definitely. It's a tough one not to win this tournament, especially it's one of my favorite tournaments, and I'm going to be definitely sad not to come back here. It's not the way I wanted to finish my last match on that court, but certain things just happen and you have to accept them.

QUESTION: Did you feel pressure on your game because she was hitting the ball so cleanly?

SELES: Definitely. I knew I'm going to be in trouble a little bit with my serve today, and that's what happened and then on the contrast Mary was serving well. So the combination of those two against a player of her caliber, it's tough.

QUESTION: Seemed like she sometimes plays well for a set and then goes off a little bit. Were you sort of waiting for maybe that to happen in this match or did you think that might happen?

SELES: No. I think Mary has been much more consistent with that lately, so I knew I had to start playing better myself. As I said before, I don't worry about what the 4 other players do. Just worry about my own.

QUESTION: You're still the crowd favorite out there. Does that give you any pressure or how does that feel?

SELES: No pressure. I mean it's great. The other match against Elena they really helped me pull through. Today I just couldn't get it going. No pressure from that, no. It's just the other way around.

QUESTION: How does this crowd compare?

SELES: This crowd has been really unbelievable I think from the first time that I played in '97 and throughout the years, so it's definitely going to be a missed feeling for sure.

QUESTION: Think some might make the trip to Charleston?

SELES: Yeah. Wherever you go, if you go out here at night and just walk, people are so nice. It's such a laid-back atmosphere.

QUESTION: Does the guy with the sign does he follow you around on the tour?

SELES: I don't think he follows me around. I don't think so.

QUESTION: I was just curious if you've seen him. It was "be fierce with Pierce."

QUESTION: You mentioned the atmosphere. Is it sort of a different thing here, more laid back than some other stops?

SELES: Oh, definitely. You're staying in a home, and just the way the tournament is set up, the people who run the tournament, it's just it's really a fantastic week. It's a very easy week in terms of for the players and everything.

QUESTION: Just how well did Mary play? Is she capable of moving up and challenging Lindsay?

SELES: I don't know. Just time will tell. She has played a couple of times Martina and lost this year. I think it just depends how Mary is playing. I just think only time tells that. I can't predict that.