The world number one Martina Hingis exacted swift revenge on Serena Williams for her shock defeat at the Lipton Championships with a 6-2 6-2 victory in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open in Rome yesterday.
The defending champion advanced to her third straight semi-final at Rome in just under an hour in a contest that never matched the heights of the epic encounter at Key Biscayne.
Then, Williams, 17, had won two enthralling sets in a classic semi-final that seemed to signal that she was ready to take over from Hingis at the top of women's tennis.
This time, the magic came only from Hingis, who had warned the rapidly improving Williams would not surprise her this time. The Swiss was as good as her word, racing into a 4-0 lead by taking 16 of the opening 17 points.
Hingis never gave Williams time or space to unleash her formidable forehand, stepping forward to take the ball early and keep the American teenager behind the baseline.
"She kept me under a lot of pressure," admitted Williams, who also failed to help her cause by misfiring badly on her usually ferocious forehand.
In the other half of the draw, Australian Open finalist Amelie Mauresmo brought unseeded Austrian Sylvia Plischke's giant-killing run to an abrupt 6-2 6-3 halt to reach her first semi-final since February. After two tough three-setters, the French number 10 seed is clearly running into her best form on red clay.
Mauresmo's victory set-up an all-French semi-final with 1997 champion and number four seed Mary Pierce, a finalist in Hamburg last week, who won 6-4 7-5 over compatriot Sandrine Testud.
In Hamburg, Tim Henman lost to Argentine Mariano Zabaleta in the quarter-finals of the German Open, ending Spaniard's Carlos Moya's hopes of recapturing the number one spot at the tournament.
Moya, who had earlier reached the semi-finals by crushing Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten 6-0 6-2, needed not only to win the tournament to topple Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov but also the bonus points he would have earned by beating Henman in the final.
Third seed Henman made a promising start against Zabaleta but then collapsed, letting the unseeded Argentine cruise to a 3-6 61 6-4 win.
Kafelnikov, who took over from injured Pete Sampras as world number one last Monday, but did not come to Hamburg because of a virus infection, will still be top when the new rankings are released this Monday.
Moya, second seed in the $2.45 million clay-court event, was in a class of his own in yesterday's quarter-final against eighth seed Kuerten, his predecessor as French Open champion.
Kuerten, who won the Monte Carlo Open last month, looked helpless at times. His nightmare ended when he hit a last forehand into the net to lose in just 57 minutes.
Moya, who held the top spot for two weeks in March, now meets Chile's Marcelo Rios, another former world number one. Fourth seed Rios recorded a straightforward 6-4 6-4 win over local favourite Tommy Haas.
After losing the first set, 11th seed Haas briefly gave the impression he could fight his way back into the match by breaking Rios to open up a 3-1 lead in the second set. But Rios broke back in the seventh game and went on to seal victory with a lob.
Zabaleta started a busy day by completing a 7-6 6-7 6-4 third-round victory over 12th seed Francisco Clavet of Spain. They had been tied 4-4 in the decisive set on Thursday when night interrupted the match.
Now he has also beaten Henman, Zabaleta will meet Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in the semi-finals.
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