PARIS (AP) - Showing the power and resilience from years past, Steffi Graf defeated Lindsay Davenport in three sets today to advance to the Franch Open semifinals.

Graf, a five-time champion in Paris, missed last's year's French Open because of one of her many injuries. But against the world's No. 2 player she produced one of her best victories of late.

In their first meeting on clay, Graf was overpowering in the first set, but Davenport came back in the second, winning in a tiebreaker. Graf broke Davenport twice in the third set to win, 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, on her fifth match point.

In the semifinals, she'll be joined by Martina Hingis and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, and most likely will face Monica Seles, who played later in the day.

Playing with the authority of a No. 1 player, Martina Hingis surged into the semis with a commanding victory over the player who upset Venus Williams.

Hingis beat Barbara Schwartz, an Austrian qualifier ranked 125th, 6-2, 6-2 and will next meet Sanchez-Vicario, the defending champion.

``It's the best match so far I've played,'' Hingis said. ``I had to think a lot on the court.''

Sanchez-Vicario had almost as easy a time defeating another Austrian, Sylvia Plischke, 6-2, 6-4.

After Schwartz broke serve at the beginning of the match, Hingis won seven straight games and never was in trouble after that.

``She's very aggressive,'' Hingis said of Schwartz, who toppled Williams in three sets Sunday. ``You never know where she's going to hit the ball.

Sanchez-Vicario was serving for the match at 5-2 in the second, but then faltered. Plischke, who earlier downed Jana Novotna, broke serve.

Serving for the match again at 5-4, Sanchez-Vicario blew two match points but finally converted on her third, when Plischke netted her final shot.

Monday belonged to Brazil at the French Open, with Gustavo Kuerten and Fernando Meligeni advancing to the quarterfinals.

Kuerten will meet Andrei Medvedev, the much-improved Ukrainian who knocked out Pete Sampras in the second round and beat France's Arnaud Di Pasquale on Monday.

Joining them in the quarters are Andre Agassi; Marcelo Rios of Chile; Spain's Alex Corretja; Uruguay's Marcelo Filippini; and Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty.

When Kuerten won the French Open two years ago as a virtual unknown, he was asked what he'd do with the nearly $700,000 in prize money - at the time, about three times his career earnings.

His answer showed why the fans like this scrappy Brazilian so much.

``Money? I think I'll put mine in an account because I don't want to buy anything,'' he said. ``I have everything I need. I have a good house, and my mom's car that I use a little bit.''

Moments later, tipsy from champagne on an empty stomach, he was on a balcony at Roland Garros, swaying happily to a samba band composed of fans chanting his nickname: ``GUGA!'' He tried to open a champagne bottle himself, but needed help from his coach. He explained: ``I've never won a title before.''

Things are a bit different this year for Kuerten, who's now ranked No. 8 and has enough titles to know how to open a champagne bottle.

Kuerten, who reached the quarters Monday with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory Czech Bohdan Ulihrach, has the best clay-court season of anyone this year. He won both Monte Carlo and the Italian Open and could even become No. 1 this summer.

Meligeni said he was inspired by Kuerten's victory in Paris in 1997.

``A friend of yours wins the tournament, it shows you that you can do it,'' he said.

Kuerten knows there are some players in the group that could pose a real challenge to him, especially Agassi, who's having an inspired run.

``When he's playing well, inspired, he can beat everybody,'' Kuerten said of Agassi. ``He's really a tough guy to play.''