Pioline closes in on title

In the other half of the draw, Swiss Marc Rosset, a winner here in 1993 and 1994, saw off Gianluca Pozzi of Italy 6-2, 6-1 and now plays French baseliner Fabrice Santoro.

Santoro’s patience paid dividends when he recovered after trailing 1-4 in the first set to beat Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-4, 6-3.

Hingis regains top spot

TOKYO: Swiss tennis star Martina Hingis recaptured the women’s world number one ranking with a 6-3, 6-4 semi-finals victory over Jana Novotna in the $ 1 million Pan Pacific Open today.

Hingis had been poised to recapture the top spot following hervictory in the Australian Open last week. She lost the number one ranking to American Lindsay Davenport after last year’s US Open.

Hingis got a little help in her return to the top spot when South African Amanda Coetzer upset Davenport yesterday in a quarter-final match.

Hingis will face the winner of the match between seventh-seeded Coetzer and Number four seed Monica Seles of the US in the finals on Sunday.

Hingis will overtake Davenport when the new rankings are released next week, tour officials said. The Swiss spent 80 consecutive weeks as the world number one up to October 11 last year when she was replaced by Davenport after the American’s victory in the US Open.