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Graf-Seles showdown on the cards

The Bank of West Classic women's tournament promises to be a humdinger, with a wealth of little battles within the main war.

For starters, there is the Monica Seles-Steffi Graf matchup. With the former seeded second and the latter fourth, they will need to get into the final, though, if they are to treat the fans to a replay of the 1996 US Open -- their last head on clash -- which Graf won.

Interestingly, both rivals, who briefly set the tennis world alight before injury -- or rather, a knife thrust and its psychological aftermath -- took Seles out just when she hit her peak, have things going for them.

Following Seles' comeback from injury, she has faced Graf twice and lost both times -- so that should be in Graf's favour.

In Seles' favour is the fact that she's been there, done that. Seles, in fact, is the only past champion figuring in this year's draw, and besides her one title triumph, she made the finals on four other occasions. In fact, in her six appearances here, the only time she failed to make the final was in 1997, when she lost in the last eight to Conchita Martinez.

Graf, though, has a tough draw to fight through before she can dream of a match up with Seles. She faces either Mary Joe Fernandez -- another player on the comeback trail -- or Chanda Rubin in the first round. Survive that, and she could take on Natalia Zvereva, her conquerer at Wimbledon this year, in the quarterfinal.

The win -- Zvereva's first over Graf -- has raised the Belarus player to 15th in the world rankings, way below her number five career high in 1989.

On the comeback trail this year, she had a dream run at Wimbledon, defeating both Monica Seles and Steffi Graf on her way to the last four.

And while on comeback trails, it does seem a bit overcrowded at this tournament, what with Jennifer Capriati joining the ranks of the wanna-be-backs.

The bad girl of modern tennis has battled lack of interest, drugs, and pretty much every other element of teenage angst in course of a career that started off like a rocket, then plunged as spectacularly.

Now ranked 117th, the former world number six figures that this time round, her nth comeback actually might be worth the while.

"It's been frustrating, every time I get in shape and things start going well, something happens to set me back," Capriati said.

Her star first blazed in 1990 when, at age 14, she made the French Open semifinals, then went on to earn an Olympic Gold and be touted as the hottest thing on the tennis circuit. The collapse came as suddenly, with a drug bust, in course of which she was arrested from a sleazy, sex by the hour joint, fuelling the drop out in 1993.

A comeback attempt in 1994 lasted all of one match, another in 1996 saw her drop out again with injury, and now she is back again, bidding to get onto the regular pro tour as a first step towards complete rehabilitation.

The 22 year old qualified for the main draw of this tournament, going through the qualifying rounds without dropping a set. She will now face Corina Morariu in her first round game.