Martina Hingis has just cleared one hurdle and now has an even bigger obstacle standing in her path to this year's Australian Open final. The Swiss world number one had to pull out all her reserves of skill and courage to get past Serena Williams 6-2 3-6 8-6 in today's quarter-finals but will have to dig even deeper to beat her big sister Venus.
Venus Williams reached the semi-finals with a similarly dramatic 2-6 6-1 8-6 win over South African 10th seed Amanda Coetzer. She will play Hingis in Thursday's second semi-final with the winner to face either defending champion Lindsay Davenport or Jennifer Capriati in Saturday's final.
"If I win the title this year I'll definitely have earned it," Hingis said. "It's going to be tough but nothing's impossible."
Despite finishing 2000 as the number one ranked player, Hingis has not won a grand slam singles title in two years. She is desperate to break her drought at Melbourne, where she won the title three years running from 1997 to 1999.
But Hingis has never beaten both Williams sisters in the same tournament, as she must do to reach her fifth consecutive Australian Open final. Hingis had been cruising along, winning all her matches in straight sets, when she almost tripped up against Serena.
She survived, but only just, in a triumph for brain over brawn, but will have to play even better to beat Venus, the Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Olympic champion.
While all the attention has been on Hingis' clashes with the Williams sisters, Davenport has been slowly moving her way through the draw.
The 24-year-old Californian beat Hingis in last year's final but failed to win another major title all year as she struggled with injuries. But the world number two is fully fit again and slowly working her way into form after losing the first set of her opening match with Jelena Dokic.
"I never grow tired of being in the semi-finals," Davenport said.
"It's a great feeling to be expected to win. It's business as usual for me. I'm here to win it and the semi-finals is at least where I should be," she added.
Her meeting with Capriati is a repeat of last year's semi-final. Capriati, who is the same age as Davenport but began her professional career much earlier, upset four-times winner Monica Seles to make the semi-finals. She has not given up hope of winning her first grand slam title even though she is the rank outsider of the remaining four women.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
