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Streaks on the line Hingis, Mauresmo will face off at Family Circle Cup
Updated: Thursday April 19, 2001 10:17 PM
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Someone's streak has got to give. Top seed Martina Hingis and No. 7 Amelie Mauresmo both continued runs of success Thursday -- Hingis with her 12th straight victory at the Family Circle and Mauresmo with her 16th match win in a row this season. They will meet in Friday's quarterfinals. One player who won't be in the quarterfinals is defending champion Mary Pierce. The sixth seed fell to No. 10 Amy Frazier 7-5, 6-7, 6-4. Hingis, who won this title the last two times she entered in 1997 and 1999, overcame a slow start to stop Iva Majoli 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Mauresmo defeated No. 11 Lisa Raymond 7-5, 7-5. "She hasn't played that many matches" this year, Hingis said of Mauresmo. "But those she played, she played very well." Mauresmo has won consecutive tournaments at Paris, Nice and, a week ago, at Amelia Island to become one of the hottest players on tour. "I think I had a good test today and coming into tomorrow's match it's going to be very interesting," said Mauresmo, who lost to Hingis on clay at the 1999 French Open. "Playing Martina, I'm ready for that." Others advancing to the round of eight were No. 2 Jennifer Capriati, No. 3 Conchita Martinez, No. 4 Amanda Coetzer and unseeded Marlene Weingartner. Pierce had trouble with her back -- she withdrew from the Amelia Island tournament last week -- from the start of this one. "I'm not one to make excuses. If I didn't think I could play I wouldn't be out there," Pierce said. "I think it's more about Amy playing well." Frazier won eight of nine games to win the first set and led 5-1 in the second. But Pierce, who asked for a trainer midway through the second set, fought off two championship points at 5-3, won the second-set tiebreaker and led 3-1 in the final set. Frazier then started hitting harder, deeper shots to regain control. She's won five of the final six games to advance. "She wasn't moving the way she can, but at the same time, she's such a dangerous player that I had to concentrate on my game," Frazier said. Hingis, the world's top player who lost in the Bausch & Lomb quarterfinals to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario a week ago, again looked like she would bow out early. Majoli may be best known for beating Hingis to win the 1997 French Open title -- the only Grand Slam championship Hingis did not win that year. This time, Majoli broke Hingis' serve three times to win the first set and lead 2-0 in the second Hingis won 11 of the next 13 games to regain control. "The first couple, three games, I was up on my serve and always I felt like those games belonged to me and then they were going her way," Hingis said. But Majoli said she was suffering from an illness that left her weak and stuffed up the final two sets. "I couldn't feel my legs," said Majoli, who received treatment during the match. "My nose, my throat, everything was blocked." Mauresmo needed three sets to defeat Raymond at Amelia Island's third round a week ago, but said she came here with additional confidence from winning that tournament. "I played a little better than last week, so that probably made the difference," Mauresmo said. Capriati reached this event's final about a month after turning pro in 1990. But her 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 15 Henrieta Nagyova was only the second time in six visits since then that Capriati, the Australian Open winner, has advanced past the third round here. Martinez, a two-time champion here, took out Nicole Pratt, 6-2, 6-3 and reached the quarters for the eighth time in 10 Family Circle appearances. Coetzer, who won this tournament in 1998, opened the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 14 Gala Leon Garcia.
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