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.
PHOTO: EPA
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.
Costa, the 2002 winner at Roland Garros, defeated 12th-seeded Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2, showing his clay-court game is rounding into shape.
The Italian Open is a big tuneup for the French Open, which starts on May 24 and is the only major played on clay.
"When he's motivated and playing well with confidence, he's a top-five player on clay," Moya said of Costa. "We know each other since we're 16, 17. Him winning at Roland Garros shows how good he can be when he's playing well."
Moya and Costa will meet a pair of Argentines, David Nalbandian and Mariano Zabaleta, in Saturday's semifinals. The draw, which reads like a Davis Cup tie between Spain and Argentina, is Moya against Zabaleta, and Costa facing Nalbandian.
On Friday, Zabaleta broke serve to go up 6-5 and served out his 6-1, 7-5 win against Chile's Nicolas Massu. Nalbandian won six straight games after falling behind 3-0 in the second set and finished with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against American Vince Spadea.
"We know how the Argentines can play, not only on clay, but everywhere," Moya said. "Hopefully, we will have an all-Spanish final."
Costa dismissed Novak in little more than an hour, never losing serve and snapping forehands at will from beyond the baseline.
Ranked just 65th, Costa is almost always a threat on clay. In addition to his success in Paris, including a semifinal appearance last year, Costa has reached the semifinals in Rome three times. In 1998, he had to pull out of the Foro Italico final with a wrist injury, and in 1996 he lost to eventual champion Thomas Muster in the semifinals.
On Wednesday, Costa upset top-ranked Roger Federer in three sets.
His results in Rome are a sharp turnaround from his straight-set, first-round loss to Albert Montanes in Barcelona last week. After that match, Costa said he was lacking motivation.
"I talked with a lot of people, also with a therapist, just to try to find a way out," Costa said. "She counseled me to find motivation inside myself. I go from time to time when I feel I'm not comfortable."
Moya, who defeated qualifier Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a rain-delayed third-round match earlier Friday, said his first match of the day helped him ease past Pavel.
"I had trouble to beat Karlovic, but I think that gave me a lot of confidence to go on the court tonight and play well," he said.
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