Venus Williams won her 14th straight match in a quarterfinal battle with Argentina's Paola Suarez 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-2 at the German Open on Friday.
No. 6 Jennifer Capriati rolled past No. 5 Anastasia Myskina 6-3, 6-2 for her first top-10 win this year.
Williams' streak is her best since winning 19 straight in 2001, but she was troubled to extend it against the world's leading doubles player on a clay court soaked by rain that restricted her power game.
The American blamed the tough match on her inconsistent play, as she kept throwing away points.
"I hit them long, I hit them short, I couldn't find a middle ground," Williams said. "That helped her cause a lot. Nothing was working today, but I came through with the win."
Williams trailed 5-6, 15-30 in the first set before pulling it out in the tiebreaker. Then she finally took control at 5-2 in the third, winning the game after erasing Suarez's 40-0 advantage.
Spectators overflowed the seats and lined the fences, sensing a possible upset by the underdog world No. 17, but Williams ended that by blasting a backhand winner to win in 2 hours, 20 minutes at the US$1.3 million event.
"It definitely makes me want to play better in my next match," she said. "I don't want to come off giving the same appearance as today."
Capriati's breezy result gave her confidence a major boost after struggling with a back injury since November.
The three-time major champion had played just four events this season and been knocked out by the third round in three. A day earlier, she survived a tough match against another Russian, rising teenager Maria Sharapova.
"I woke up feeling really good. I think I was just so pumped up from yesterday -- I had a lot of energy," Capriati said. "It's coming back, but you don't lose your confidence overnight and you don't get it back overnight."
Capriati pumped her first in delight after beating Myskina, who made too many unforced errors. Myskina had missed two events because of a toe sprain.
"The ball was so heavy, but I knew the conditions. I think I was patient the whole match," Capriati said. "Maybe it favored me more because Myskina likes a fast pace."
She set up a rematch of the 2001 final against Mauresmo. The second-seeded Frenchwoman knocked out 10th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1 in a shade under two hours.
In the first set, the 18-year-old Russian who has played three finals this year and beaten world No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne, drove Mauresmo all over the court and smashed winners to the corners.
But Mauresmo took control with an early second-set break, and ended the match by rifling a backhand winner down the line.
Sprem defeated Australian Open semifinalist Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia 6-3, 6-3 to make her third last-four appearance this year.
Italian Open
Carlos Moya believes a French Open title carries little weight at the Italian Open.
Moya and fellow Spaniard Albert Costa -- both former winners in Paris -- advanced to the semfinals of the Italian Open on Friday with straight-set wins.
"Well, it was a few years ago when I won. Costa won two years ago. Here, players have no respect for that," Moya said after coasting past Romania's Andrei Pavel 6-1, 6-2 in 47 minutes in his second match of the day.
"They forget about who they are playing, and they don't know if you won the French Open or you were No. 1; they don't care about that," said Moya, the 1998 French Open champion and the top-ranked player for two weeks in 1999.
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