PARIS (AP) - Amelie Mauresmo avenged her loss to Martina Hingis in the Australian Open final with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over the world's top player today in the Gaz de France Open.

Cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd aware of the recent controversy between the players, Mauresmo, used her greater physical power to overrun Hingis in one hour, 30 minutes.

``It was like a soccer match,'' a despondent Hingis said of the crowd. ``They were really against me.''

Mauresmo is French and the 18-year-old Hingis is from Switzerland.

The contest re-opened the controversy that erupted before last month's Australian final, when Hingis described Mauresmo, who is gay, as ``half a man.''

The 19-year-old Mauresmo responded by calling Hingis stupid.

Hingis and Mauresmo had sought to play down the episode in the days leading up to the match, but both were clearly in determined spirit.

Hingis, who beat Mauresmo, 6-2, 6-3 in the Melbourne final, won the first set in just 24 minutes.

Mauresmo had a terrible start, overhitting strokes and struggling with her service.

But she looked a different player in the second set, and in the third set broke Hingis' service while leading 4-3.

Belgium's Dominique van Roost showed stunning second-set form to beat Elena Likhovtseva 7-5, 6-0.

No. 3 seed van Roost, who reached the last eight of the Australian Open, came through a close first set in which she served eight double faults, before outgunning the eighth-seeded Russian in 70 minutes.

``I was a bit scared of serving too short in the first set so made a lot of double faults. But my serving improved in the second set and after it was 2-0 she didn't play well,'' said van Roost, last year's runner-up here.

The win was her first against Likhovtseva in five attempts.

In the semifinals, van Roost will play Mauresmo.

France's Nathalie Dechy outwitted her close friend and doubles partner Amelie Cocheteux 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 to become the first unseeded player to advance to the semifinals.