Martina Hingis and Jennifer Capriati posted quarterfinal victories yesterday, as the top two seeds remained on course for a showdown in the final of the $1.2 million Family Circle Cup women's tennis tournament.
Hingis, the world's top-ranked player, survived a first-set scare to snap the 16-match winning streak of seventh seed Amelie Mauresmo of France to advance 7-5 6-2.
Capriati, the second seed, struggled in the first set but moved up a gear in the second to overcome unseeded Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 7-5 6-4.
"I felt like even though I was the number one player out there, she was the one who had to move to prove," said Hingis, who defeated Mauresmo in a heated Australian Open final in 1999.
"Even though she won three tournaments in a row, she still hasn't beaten any of the top players," Hingis added.
Serving at 5-5 in the first set, Hingis was in trouble as she fell behind 15-40.
She rallied to deuce, then faced another breakpoint before winning three straight points for a 6-5 lead.
Mauresmo double-faulted on the first point of the 12th game and Hingis closed out the first set with a service break.
"It was very hard in the beginning," said Hingis, who has now won 13 straight matches at this tournament, including title wins in 1997 and 1999.
Mauresmo, now ranked ninth in the world, blamed her errors as the difference between the two players.
"I made too many unforced errors at the important points to have any hope of winning this one," she said.
Capriati, the fifth-ranked player in the world, had all she could handle in 25-year-old Russian Elena Likhovtseva, who had upset seeded players in her last two matches.
Likhovtseva was two points from winning the first set while serving at 5-4, 30-30, but Capriati lunged in to come up with a passing shot off a Likhovtseva volley to gain control of the game.
A close baseline call went against the unseeded Likhovtseva at 30-30 in the next game, allowing Capriati to move into position to claim the first set as Likhovtseva appeared to lose focus for a couple of points.
By the time Likhovtseva regained her form, Capriati had a one-set lead.
Likhovtseva missed a golden opportunity to take a 4-1 lead in the second set when she sailed a high backhand volley long on an easy put-away at the net when she led 40-15.
She recovered enough to make it 4-2 before mistakes and impatience turned on her as Capriati's deep, penetrating ground strokes wore Likhovtseva down.
Capriati won the next four games to close out the match in just under two hours.
"When she's on, she's really tough to play," Capriati said. "It was ike that today, a little bit up and down, but I think I played well."
Capriati's semi-final opponent today will be unseeded 21-year-old Marlene Weingartner of Germany, who upset former champion and fourth-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa 6-4 7-6 (7-3).
Former two-time champion Conchita Martinez of Spain defeated 10th seed Amy Frazier of the United States 6-3 6-1 in a night game and will meet Hingis in the other semi-final. -Reuters