Hingis pierces Mary’s semifinal hopes

Hingis and Pierce both appeared nervous at the start of their quarter-finals, but Hingis was by far the more consistent and gradually found her rhythm to take control of the match.

Pierce saved one match point at 2-5 in the second set as she broke Hingis’ serve but saw her own serve broken in the next game for a Hingis victory.

It was a disappointing performance from Pierce. The normally speedy Canada-born Frenchwoman lumbered around the court for most of the hour-long match and failed to take her chances on the big points, sealing just three of nine break chances.

Had Hingis converted her first match point, she would haveachieved the same winning margin as in last year’s final, when she became the youngest Grand Slam title winner in over a century.

In the day’s first quarter-final, 10th-seeded Huber came out fighting, having won just one of 11 career matches against Sanchez Vicario.

Huber never stopped attacking the ball and seized on an uncharacteristic string of errors from the Spaniard to beat her 7-6 (9-7), 7-5.

Sanchez Vicario had been heavily favoured to beat Huber, winning the Sydney International in her warm-up for the Open and then racing to the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park without dropping a set.

The other semifinal, to be played tomorrow, pits second seeded American Lindsay Davenport and eight seed Conchita Martinez of Spain.

Huber, ranked 14th in the world, has not made the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament since she was runner-up to Monica Seles at Melbourne Park two years ago.

The German’s shots hugged the lines as the players traded 10 or more ground strokes on point after point, extendingthe match to almost two hours. When the Spaniard’s shots were not hitting the net, they were flying over the baseline. Of nine break points, Sanchez Vicario converted only two.

She staved off Huber’s first matchpoint with a cracking volley, but Huber edged out the contest, firing off a backhand winner on her third match point.

Rios in semis:

Chilean ninth seed Marcelo Rios reached his first Grand Slam semifinal with a four-set victory over unseeded Spaniard Alberto Berasategui.

Rios ended Berasategui’s giant-killing run at the Open in a 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 in two hours and 34 minutes. Rios, who was the only player last year to reach the fourth round or better of all four Grand Slams, will play either German Nicolas Kiefer or Nicolas Escude of France in the semifinals.The Chilean, a quarter-finalist at last year’s Australian and US Opens, lost the first set in a tie-breaker, but gradually gained control over Berasategui.

Results

Men’s semifinal line-up: 6-Petr Korda vs KarolKucera; 9-Marcelo Rios vs Nicolas Escude. Women’s semifinal line-up: 8-Conchita Martinez vs 2-Lindsay Davenport; 1-Martina Hingis vs 10-Anke Huber.

Men’s singles quarter-finals: 9-Marcelo Rios (Chile) bt Alberto Berasategui (Spain) 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-4, 6-0; Nicolas Escude (France) bt Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles quarterfinals: 5-Jonas Bjorkman/Jacco Eltingh (Sweden/Netherlands) bt 4-Ellis Ferreira/Rick Leach (South Africa/United States) 6-2, 6-4, 7-5; 2-Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi (India) bt Justin Gimelstob/Brian Macphie (United States) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 6-2.

Women’s quarter-finals: 1-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) bt 5-Mary Pierce (France) 6-2 6-3; 10-Anke Huber (Germany) bt 7-Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (Spain) 7-6 (9-7) 7-5.

Indian duo in semisSecond-seeded Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi today entered the semi-finals of the Australian Open tennis championship defeating Justin Gimelstob and Brian MaCphie of the United States 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 6-2.Paes-Bhupathi hadreached the quarterfinals defeating Australians Lleyton Hewitt and Luke Smith 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) on Monday.