Martina Hingis breezed into the fourth round of the US Open yesterday, dispatching Italy's Tathiana Garbin 6-1 6-0 in 37 minutes for the fastest triumph so far at the Grand Slam event.
Hingis (19), seeking her first Grand Slam win since last year's Australian Open, is now due to meet an opponent she has defeated in all 11 career meetings - 11th seed Sandrine Testud of France.
Hingis, who made only five unforced errors, seeks her sixth triumph of the year over Testud, who beat Dutch opponent Kristie Boogert 6-0, 6-1 in 41 minutes.
With Andre Agassi and Gustavo Kuerten already out of the tournament, third-seed Magnus Norman of Sweden became the top men's seed to reach the third round by ousting French qualifier Cyril Saulnier 6-3 6-4 6-3. Wayne Arthurs, who ousted second-seed Kuerten, advanced by rallying past fellow Australian Jason Stoltenberg 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-4.
Tenth-seeded Frenchman Cedric Pioline battled back from two sets down to defeat Britain's Greg Rusedski in the second round.
Pioline escaped two match points in the fourth-set tie-breaker on his way to claiming an exciting 6-7 (47) 3-6 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 victory. He will now play Todd Martin, who advanced in straight sets over fellow-American Michael Chang.
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams extended her win streak to 22 matches at the US open but not before 48th-ranked fellow American Meghann Shaugnessy gave the third seed a scare. Williams won 7-6 (7-3) 6-1.
Spanish ninth seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario beat American Allison Bradshaw 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 to also book a fourth-round date in the women's tournament with a French foe she has beaten in all 11 of their matches - eighth-seed Nathalie Tauziat.
Tauziat, who has won only one of 23 career sets against Sanchez, dispatched Taiwan qualifier Janet Lee 6-3 6-2 in 55 minutes.
Sixth-seed Monica Seles struggled past 17th-ranked fellow American Chanda Rubin 6-3 4-6 6-4. Rubin blew an overhead slam in the final game before Seles smacked a pair of backhand winners to advance.
Seles will next play 15th-seed Jennifer Capriati in a rematch of last year's fourth round, when Seles won 6-4 6-3, and an epic 1991 US Open semi-final that Seles won in a third-set tie-breaker.
Capriati, who has won three of her nine matches against Seles, ousted Czech Adriana Gersi 6-2 6-3.
"I'm definitely stronger than 1991," Capriati said. "Maybe that's why I didn't win then. I wasn't as strong. Maybe now it will be different."
Seles wants to make some improvements herself - specifically by playing better against Open favourites Hingis and Venus and Serena Williams.
"I haven't had much success against two or three top players in the world this year and that's what keeps me motivated," Seles said.
