FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- The nasty gossip between Martina Hingis and Venus Williams will be settled by a talent contest.

The highly anticipated semifinals matchup between the teenagers is a reality as both won their matches today at the $14.5 million U.S. Open in convincing fashion.

The third-seeded Williams completed the Friday showdown with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 12 Barbara Schett of Austria tonight. Earlier, Hingis the No. 1 player in the world and 1997 U.S. Open champion, routed unseeded German Anke Huber, 6-2, 6-0.

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.

The war of words between Hingis and Williams reached catfight proportions. It began when Williams' father, Richard, predicted a women's final between Venus and younger sister Serena, who is still alive on the other side of the women's draw.

Hingis, who beat Venus Williams in the 1997 final, scoffed at that notion and has backed it up with her play. Despite a slow start, she blistered Huber to earn her fourth straight semifinal berth here.

Following her match, Williams was told that Hingis had given Schett a few pointers on how to play her.

"Well, I think you can get all the pointers you want against me," Williams said. "But unless I give the match to you, a lot of unforced errors, it's going to be tough to win."

This afternoon, Hingis dropped the first two games but 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 hard courts this summer. Her only loss in that span came to Serena Williams 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."

Venus Williams has not reached the semifinals of any other Grand Slam event. Her best success has been at the Open, reaching the final in 1997 and the semifinals last year.

Williams recorded the only break of the first set in the seventh game, scorching a backhand winner down the line to take a 4-3 lead. Schett, who lost just nine games in reaching her first career Grand Slam quarterfinals, could not solve Williams' serve until the fourth game of the second set, when she was presented with her first break point opportunity. She took full advantage and tied the set.

However, Williams broke back for a 3-2 lead. In the sixth game, Schett squandered a break point when her backhand sailed wide and Williams was able to hold serve. Schett then held serve, but again could not cash in on two break opportunities in the eighth game. Williams broke Schett for the fourth time, hitting a backhand return down the line to close out the match.

"I think I'm serving a lot better than I did last year. I'm moving well," said Williams. "I'm returning well, also. And I think, also, I'm playing the break points a lot better."

Williams was successful on all 12 of her net approaches and had 27 winners against 33 unforced errors. Schett, who learned of the death of her grandmother on Monday, committed 25 unforced errors against just 10 winners.

Although confident, Williams admitted she has been impressed by Hingis' recent play.

"She's really been able to have some easy matches," she said. "She's not giving away too many points. She's really been capitalizing on her opportunities, not making herself work too hard. That's some of the best tennis you can play."

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."

In another men's match today, Slava Dosedel defeated fellow unseeded countryman Jiri Novak, 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 to become the first Czech to advance to the U.S. Open quarterfinals since Petr Korda in 1997. The Czech Republic has had a player in the U.S. Open quarterfinals four of the past six years.

Dosedel will play seventh seed Todd Martin of the United States, who used a fifth-set outburst to roar past No. 9 Greg Rusedski of Britain, 5-7, 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4.

Martin looked awful in dropping the first two sets but staged a comeback to notch his sixth win in seven all-time meetings with Rusedski, the 1997 runner-up here who remains without a title this season.

Rusedski won four of the first five games of the fifth set and appeared on his way to victory when Martin rallied. He won 18 straight points before double-faulting at 30-love in the 10th game. He recovered nicely with a pair of aces to close out the set.

Martin has reached at least the quarterfinals in 10 of 12 tournaments this season. He lost in the quarterfinals at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Earlier this year, Martin beat Rusedski in straight sets of a first-round tie against Britain in the Davis Cup.