Tennis: Hingis strolls toward fourth crown

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MELBOURNE - Swiss phenomenon Martina Hingis shot down one Spanish veteran and set her sights on another as she marched towards her fourth consecutive Australian Open tennis title.

The world No 1 took just 45 minutes yesterday on Melbourne Park's centre court to beat former US and French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 6-1 6-1 in the quarter-finals.

The speed of that victory can only help when Hingis meets former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez in today's semifinals.

Tenth seed Martinez took 2h 35m to come out on top in a baseline duel with Russia's Elena Likhovtseva, the surprise fourth-round winner over US Open champion Serena Williams.

Martinez, who lost to Hingis in the final here two years ago, took advantage of her experience and greater stroke range to see off a fierce challenge from the Russian 16th seed 6-3 4-6 9-7.

But the 27-year-old admitted that the tournament was taking its toll on her.

"I was a little bit tired today. So it was really tough to play so long," Martinez said.

Hingis looked as fresh as an Alpine daisy after five matches on her favourite surface and predicted that Martinez would be just as tired for their semifinal.

After a couple of years marked by major upsets, especially in the men's draw, this year's open has gone almost entirely to script.

World No 1 Andre Agassi and No 3 Pete Sampras will meet in the first men's semifinal tonight, a match that is being seen as a "final before the final."

Tournament second seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the defending champion, set up a possible meeting with No 4 Nicolas Kiefer, of Germany, in the other semifinal.

Kafelnikov cruised into the semis with a straight sets victory over Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui last night.

Kafelnikov has taken full advantage of a draw that allowed him to advance to the semis without meeting another seeded player.

Kiefer was playing Swedish 12th seed Magnus Norman late last night.

The other women's semifinal pits world No 2 Lindsay Davenport against comeback queen Jennifer Capriati, both playing near the top of their form.

But neither looks quite as untouchable as Hingis, the 18-year-old who has won three consecutive singles and doubles titles at Melbourne Park. Yesterday's victory took her winning streak in the singles here to 26 matches.

Against Sanchez-Vicario, the 28-year-old who upset sixth seed Barbara Schett in the previous round, Hingis showed no mercy, giving up just 26 points in the entire match.

"I didn't miss almost anything. It was like it could go on forever," she said.

The previous semifinal almost did go on forever, as Martinez painstakingly wore down doubles specialist Likhovtseva.