CHARLESTON, South Carolina World No. 1 Martina Hingis and Australian Open champion Jennifer Capriati advanced to the quarterfinals of a 1.2 million-dollar WTA Clay Court Tournament here Thursday.

Swiss star Hingis outlasted Croatia's Iva Majoli 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 while second seed Capriati of the United States ousted Slovakia's Henrieta Nagyova 6-4, 6-2.

Hingis dropped the first set to Majoli by the same score which she lost the first set to her in the 1997 French Open final. But this time she rallied to advance.

Next up for Hingis will be France's Amelie Mauresmo, who extended her win streak to 17 matches by downing Lisa Raymond of the United States 7-5, 7-5, AFP reported.

Seventh seed Mauresmo has won three tournaments in a row, taking titles at Paris and Nice and last week in Amelia Island, Florida.

Hingis, who won here in 1997 and 1999, had reached 10 consecutive championship matches and won seven titles before being stopped last month in the semifinals at Indian Wells, California, by Belgium's Kim Clijsters.

Hingis suffered a quarterfinal loss to Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. It was the first time since last August she failed to advance to a semifinal.

Capriati will next face Russia's Elena Likhovtseva, who defeated Argentina's Paola Suarez 6-0, 7-5.

Spain's third-seeded Conchita Martinez, a two-time winner here, dispatched Australia's Nicole Pratt 6-2, 6-3.

Martinez has a quarterfinal date with American Amy Frazier, who upset defending French Open champion and sixth seed Mary Pierce of France 7-5, 6-7 (1/7), 6-4.

South Africa's Amanda Coetzer, seeded fourth, beat Spain's Leon Garcia 7-6 (7/1), 6-1, and will next face Germany's Marlene Weingartner, who beat Romania's Ruxandra Dragomir Ilie 6-3, 6-0.

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