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Hingis moves into high gear

World number one Martina Hingis, defending the title she won last year, rolled over South African Joannette Kruger 6-1 6-3 in 49 minutes of blistering tennis to enter the semifinals of the $450,000 Toshiba Tennis Classic.

Meanwhile, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, and Nathalie Tauziat reached the last eight in their own individual styles.

Davenport, seeded second and fresh from beating Venus Williams at the Bank of the West tournament last week, accounted for Lisa Raymond 6-1 6-4, while Williams, showing no effects of the injury that hampered her in the Bank of West title fight, packed off Chanda Rubin 6-3 6-2.

Tauziat, the Wimbledon runner up this year, dropped a set while beating Amy Frazier 6-3 3-6 6-1.

Of all the performances, Hingis' was the most awesome as she took just 18 minutes to wrap up the first set. In the second set, Kruger managed to put up a bit of a fight and, at one point, had Hingis trailing 1-2, but the world number one then stepped up a gear to reel off five of the next six games.

Hingis will now meet either Venus Williams or Mary Pierce, who are due to clash in the quarters later tonight.

Davenport, now ranked number two in the world, played well below her best, but still managed to win in straight sets against Raymond, who is yet to win against Davenport in six outings.

Venus Williams, one of the 'Spice Girls' of modern tennis, slugged it out with Rubin in a baseline duel which showed neither player at her best. However, on the plus side, Williams showed no real sign of the injury that had cramped her style in the recent Bank of West tennis classic, when she played the third set with her leg all bandaged.