World number one Martina Hingis cruised into a fourth-round match against 10th seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario at the US Open in New York yesterday, while eighth seed Jana Novotna became the latest injured player to be knocked out.
Hingis destroyed 213th-ranked German qualifier Sandra Kloesel 63, 6-1 in 61 minutes and will try to win a spot in the quarter-finals by beating Sanchez for the 12th time in a row.
Former world number one Sanchez routed Patty Schynder 6-2, 6-2 in 62 minutes in a rematch of last year's decisive Fed Cup finals match the Spaniard won for a 3-2 win for her country.
Czech veteran Novotna, the 1998 Wimbledon winner, struggled with a nagging ankle injury that had the 30-year-old pondering her future after a 6-3, 6-2 loss to 27th-ranked German Anke Huber.
"Right now, I really don't know what my future is," Novotna said.
"I want to take some time to think about it. If you don't come back very quickly you miss a lot. Tennis is getting better and faster every day.
"If I can no longer compete with these players or I cannot physically be out there and stay in the top 10, I will think about leaving. For now I want to take time to think about everything and not make any emotional statements."
Novotna, who herself has had to fend off some less than kind words by Hingis after she was dumped as Hingis's doubles partner earlier in the season, complained about the sport's gruelling schedule and lack of rest time for top players.
"We don't have an off-season like all the other sports and that's a big mistake," Novotna said.
"You have to play a lot of tournaments. You play on a lot of surfaces, which doesn't help. This is a perfect example. We have players falling out of draws with injuries like never before."
Injuries have already forced out all four 1998 men's semi-finalists - world number one Pete Sampras, 11th seed Mark Philippoussis, eighth seed Carlos Moya and reigning champion Pat Rafter.
Hingis expressed admiration for her next opponent, Sanchez Vicario, despite a superb record against her. "It surprised me how she beat Patty. I thought it was going to be harder for her," Hingis said. "But Arantxa always gets where she is supposed to get. Going into that match you have to take her seriously. But I won the last matches quite easily."
The Swiss player has taken 11 sets in a row from Sanchez since the 1998 Wimbledon quarter-finals, beating Sanchez three times in 1999, including the French Open semi-finals.
Hingis began the Sanchez streak in the round of 16 in this tournament in 1996 and has ousted her from Grand Slams five times - at least once in each of the past four years.
"When you play the number one player in the world you have nothing to lose," Sanchez said.
"Every match is different. I will try to give her a hard time. I will play her better than the last matches we played."
Hingis said she and Serena Williams, who traded barbs after earlier victories, joked before her match about how their jibes were making the headlines at the event.
"We were both kind of laughing," Hingis said.
In the men's draw, ninth seed Greg Rusedski, the 1997 runner-up in this tournament, beat 56th-ranked David Prinosil of Germany 6-4, 6-3, 6-1, with a 143-m.p.h. ace in the third set of the 97-minute match.
The Briton could benefit from Sampras and Rafter departing early from his half of the draw.
"Every player in the draw has a chance to win the title once you get to the third round," he said.
