Martina Hingis has a chance to exact some revenge on Kim Clijsters. During her impressive comeback in January at the Australian Open, Hingis reached the quarterfinals before losing a tough three set match to Clijsters.
Now she'll get another crack at Clijsters in Paris after pulling out a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 victory on Court 1 Monday over 31st seeded Israeli Shahar Peer in a fourth round match which took two days to complete.
"I've never played her before. She's a young and upcoming player," the 12th seeded two-time runner up told reporters of overcoming Peer.
"But I wasn't scared of losing. It had to be closer for me to be scared."
After splitting the first two sets Sunday, the match was halted due to bad light before concluding yesterday.
Having dropped the second set to Peer, Hingis looked to gain back the momentum when play resumed. But after breaking Peer during a lengthy opening game, she immediately dropped serve to square the match.
Hingis found herself on the short end of some long baseline rallies. Always the tactician, she changed strategy by quickening points with drop shots and effective net play. The move paid off to give her a double break 5-2 lead against a suddenly sluggish Peer.
However, the 19-year-old who entered Roland Garros with three titles didn't go quietly. Instead, a forehand return winner gave her a break back for 3-5. But Hingis wouldn't be denied and quickly broke Peer for the eighth and final time to clinch victory.
"My confidence has raised since January," Hingis said after finishing with 42 winners to her opponent's 36.
"That's probably the biggest factor going in against Clijsters. I made a lot of improvement since Australia. I was happy to win the first round there. Now I would have been disappointed had I not reached the quarters."
"I'll have to make sure she does not dictate play."
"It's always nice to play somebody like her," Clijsters told reporters after finding out she'll play Hingis for the second straight slam. "I played her a few years ago. I played her as well when I was coming up. I always admired her for her game.
"Now I just enjoy playing against her. I had a really tough match playing against her in Australia on Rebound Ace. Definitely it will be even tougher for me on clay."
The match will take place on Court Chatrier later today following the first quarter between Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova (8) and Dinara Safina (14).
On Court Lenglen, 11th seeded American Venus Williams will take on 16th seeded 17-year-old Czech Nicole Vaidisova. Defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne (5) also battles German Anna-Lena Groenefeld (13) for a spot in the semifinals.
Nadal Defeats Hewitt To Reach Quarterfinals: Rafael Nadal is into the quarters. The 20-year-old defending champ won his 57th consecutive clay court match, defeating 14th seeded Aussie Lleyton Hewitt 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
It was the Spaniard's first ever victory over Hewitt in four tries.
After splitting the first two sets, Nadal seized control of the match with his heavy top spin and began attacking Hewitt's serve while having little trouble on his own.
"I felt like I was hitting the ball well," Hewitt told the AP afterwards. "Obviously at the start of the match, he came out smoking it and hitting a lot of heavy balls. I couldn't really get an opportunity to try and dictate."
"When I got my half chance in the second set, I had to take it, and I was able to do that. I started serving really well, better than I've been doing all tournament. I think late in the third set and then the whole fourth set, my serve did go off, my first serve, more than anything. That just made it a lot harder to put pressure on him."
"He's very much like I guess Federer, winning so many matches, that it's sort of second nature for him," Hewitt observed. "They get down breakpoint and they expect to get out of it. That's why he's one of the best players in the world."
Nadal will next meet 19-year-old Novak Djokovic for a chance at the semis. The Serbian is into the final eight for the first time in a slam after eliminating Frenchman Gael Monfils (25) 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Monfils came in having won three straight five setters but couldn't come through on the big points against the more rested Djokovic, who finished him off with a crosscourt forehand winner. After an excited Djokovic pumped his fist, he was warmly greeted by Monfils at the net. A sharp contrast from the controversial five set win he had over Monfils at the U.S. Open in which he was aided by medical treatments.
"It is unbelievable. I have to say the way I played was good today. I am very happy especially because I beat Gael in front of his home crowd," Djokovic expressed to reporters after the big win.
"Fortunately I won in straight sets because I do not know how things would have turned if he had won a set."
"I was less aggressive than he was. I was a bit down physically," Monfils said.
"He's [Djokovic] a very dangerous player," Nadal said after finding out who he would play. "He's got very good shots. I don't know what his ranking will be at the end of the year, but I think it's going to go way up. I think he's a year younger than me. That's life."
Also advancing to their first ever French Open quarters were Ivan Ljubicic and Julien Benneteau. The fourth seeded Ljubicic ousted Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 while the Frenchman Benneteau advanced when Spain's Alberto Martin retired due to a back injury with Benneteau ahead 5-1. Benneteau is the last Frenchman left.
The first two men's quarterfinals get underway Tuesday when top seeded Roger Federer takes on Mario Ancic (12) on Court Chatrier while David Nalbandian (3) takes on Nikolay Davydenko (6) on Court Lenglen.
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