Hingis bundled out but Kafelnikov still on track

Top seed and defending champion Martina Hingis suffered a shock 6-2 6-2 defeat by Elena Dementieva in the Kremlin Cup quarter-finals on Friday.

But Yevgeny Kafelnikov extended his 22-game winning streak in Moscow with a swift 6-3 7-5 win over fifth-seeded Thomas Johansson as the top seed and defending champion seeks his fifth straight Kremlin Cup title.

Dementieva avenged last year's loss to Hingis at the same stage of the tournament by scoring her first career win over the Swiss world number one.

"What can be better than to beat the world's best player," said an elated Dementieva, who was considering pulling out of her previous match because of a shoulder injury. "I have been waiting for this rematch for a very long time."

Hingis, who beat Anna Kournikova in last year's final, was bundled out of the tournament in just one hour and 10 minutes.

Nevertheless, Hingis, who is now in danger of losing the number one spot to Jennifer Capriati, was gracious in defeat.

"When I first played her at the Australian Open two years ago, I knew she would be a very good player, and today she proved that she can beat the top player," Hingis said.

TRAINER CALLED

On Thursday night, after losing the first set against American qualifier Alexandra Stevenson, Dementieva called for a trainer.

"I was seriously considering pulling out of the match," she said then. "But then the trainer came on and gave me massage, and after taking a painkillers I felt a little better and decided to hang in there."

On Friday, the eighth-seeded Russian showed no sign of her injury and the Olympic silver medallist broke Hingis for three straight games to take a 5-0 lead.

"I had my chances in all the games as most of them went to deuce," said Hingis. "But she just played better on game points."

The Russian did not give Hingis any chances in the second set either and she broke the Swiss four times before clinching the match with a crisp forehand down the line.

In Saturday's semifinals, Dementieva will take on fellow Russian wild card Anastasia Myskina, who upset 19th-ranked Barbara Schett of Austria 6-4 6-2.

Fifth-seeded Yugoslav Jelena Dokic will face number six seed Silvia Farina Elia of Italy.

POINTS WASTED

Dokic, the highest seed left in the women's draw, dispatched unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-2 6-0 in 51 minutes, while Farina Elia prevailed over Daja Bedanova 1-6 7-6 6-4 after the 18-year-old Czech squandered three match points in the second set tiebreaker.

Kafelnikov, who had lost his last eight matches to Johansson, finally was able to master his Swedish opponent.

After taking the opening set in 31 minutes, the Russian scored a key break in the 11th game of the second set for a 6-5 lead and held his serve to improve his dismal win-loss record against Johansson to 5-9.

Kafelnikov now faces fourth-seeded German Tommy Haas, who had little trouble against Swedish qualifier Magnus Gustafsson 6-1 6-4, and unseeded Slovak Dominik Hrbaty meets Germany's Nicolas Kiefer in the other semifinal.

Hrbaty, who upset second seed Marat Safin on Thursday, produced another solid performance less than 24 hours later by beating Czech Jiri Novak 5-7 6-4 6-3, while Kiefer knocked out former two-time Kremlin Cup champion Marc Rosset of Switzerland 6-3 7-6.