FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Top seed Martina Hingis has done her part. Now it is up to Venus Williams.

Hingis, the No. 1 player in the world and the 1997 U.S. Open champion, earned her fourth straight semifinal berth here by routing unseeded German Anke Huber, 6-2, 6-0, in today's quarterfinals.

The victory set up a possible Hingis-Williams showdown -- a rematch of the 1997 Open final. Friday's semifinal has been anticipated since this year's draw was announced nearly two weeks ago. It can become a reality if the 19-year-old Williams, seeded third, defeats No. 12 Barbara Schett of Austria tonight.

"She has to first get there," Hingis said. "She has the night match. I'm going to be watching."

On the men's side, former French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten became the latest player to benefit from the slew of on-court injuries during the tournament.

Hingis started slowly, dropping the first two games. But she quickly got on track by breaking Huber in the third game.

"I was down 2-0 and she was serving with the wind," Hingis said. "That was a very important game for me to come back and put her under pressure."

From that point, there was no stopping the 18-year-old from Switzerland, who improved to 16-1 on hardcourts this summer. Her only loss in that span came to Serena Williams -- Venus' sister -- at Manhattan Beach, California.

Huber had five break points in the fourth game of the opening set but was unable to capitalize. Hingis held serve to even the match and broke Huber at deuce in the next game.

Huber's play progressively deteriorated the rest of the way as she struggled to deal with the swirling wind and a steady opponent. She won just 12 points in the second set and made 39 unforced errors in the 57-minute match.

"I had to try and play aggressive, play my game," said Huber, who lost to Hingis for the ninth time in 10 career meetings. "But it was very hard with the wind. I was trying, but I lost all the long rallies. I just wasn't using the wind as well as she did."

Williams, who advanced to the final in her U.S. Open debut in 1997, earned a berth in the quarterfinals by rallying to defeat injured fellow American Mary Joe Fernandez, 2-6, 6-1, 6-0, on Sunday.

A winner over Schett in their only career meeting last year at Wimbledon, Williams is looking to reach the semifinal of a Grand Slam for the first time since reaching the final four here a year ago.

On Monday, Schett learned of the death of her grandmother. She has lost just nine games in reaching her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal, winning three of four matches with the loss of just one game.

Kuerten, the fifth seed from Brazil, advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the first time when unseeded Magnus Norman of Sweden was forced to retire from their fourth-round match due to a back injury.

"Very lucky," said Kuerten, who was down a break in the opening set when Norman started to suffer the effects of the injury. "I think he was playing a little bit better than me. I was very, very lucky."

Norman is the seventh player in the men's draw to retire during a match. That group includes two-time defending champion and fourth seed Patrick Rafter and eighth seed Carlos Moya.

Norman was up a break and ready to serve for the opening set when he became the latest victim of injury. Kuerten came back to capture the first set by winning 7-4 in a tiebreaker and was leading in the first game of the second set when Norman decided to call it quits.

Kuerten's next opponent will be 1993 U.S. Open finalist Cedric Pioline of France, who today upset 14th seed Tommy Haas of Germany, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.

Norman suffered the injury at 5-5 in the opening set. He chased down Kuerten's drop shot at break point, flicked a winner into the open court and pumped his first to celebrate the first break of serve in the match. But as he rose from his chair during the ensuing changeover, he reached for his back and called for a trainer.

"It was not that last point when I broke him. It was the point before," Norman explained. "I heard a click in the back when I was going to return the serve at 30-40. I felt an unbelievable amount of pain. I broke for 6-5, but when I came to the chair, I said, `This is not right.' I had never felt that way before."

After receiving on-court treatment, Norman attempted to serve for the set, but was broken at love. Kuerten then raced to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak. Norman received treatment again after losing the tiebreak and served to open the second set. He gave up after hitting a forehand into the net on the third point of the first game.

"I spoke to the doctor and he said it was bad luck. There's not much I could do," Norman said. "It's a shame. I have been playing the best tennis of my life and thought I had an opportunity today."

Norman was one of the more active players during the summer hardcourt season. He played in five tournaments in the six weeks preceding the Open and had won 21 of his last 23 matches, including tournament titles at Stuttgart, Umag and Long Island.

"There are a lot of tournaments before the Open," said Kuerten, attempting to explain the rash of injuries. "Some guys play a lot before coming here. Then we have to go out and play three-of-five sets, spend three or four hours on the court."

Pioline took advantage of a weakened Haas, who has battled a hip flexor injury since his first-round match. The Frenchman was down a break in both the first and second sets, but rallied back each time.

"If you're up a break, you got to try and hold it," Haas said. "I started off the first and second set with a break. If I can't finish off those sets in the round of 16 in a match in a Grand Slam, that's tough."

Pioline played solid tennis throughout while Haas struggled in the windy conditions. Pioline won a whopping 88 percent of points played on his first serve, dominated at the net and hit 35 winners, two more than his unforced errors. Meanwhile, Haas committed 45 unforced errors, the last on Pioline's second match point.

"It was difficult to play out there because of the wind," said Pioline. "I think I'm much better with the wind because I try to mix up my game a little bit."

"I don't know if he was difficult today. I think it was more the tough conditions, the wind," Haas said. "I had a tough time getting a little bit used to that."

Two other men's matches take place today. Jiri Novak squares off against fellow unseeded Czech Slava Dosedel this afternoon and seventh seed Todd Martin of the United States battles No. 9 Greg Rusedski of Britain tonight.

Martin brings a 5-1 record against Rusedski into tonight's battle. Their last encounter came during the United States' first-round tie against Britain in the Davis Cup, which Martin won in three straight sets.

Martin has reached at least the quarterfinals in nine of 11 tournaments this season. He lost in the quarterfinals at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Rusedski has not won a title this season but came into this event having reached the final of the U.S. Pro Championships in Boston. He is trying to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam for the first time since his runner-up finish here in 1997.