The muscular Mauresmo relished her victory after losing to Hingis in straight sets in last month's Australian Open final in Melbourne.

Mauresmo took less than 90 minutes to silence her Swiss quarter-final opponent, who had called the French player ``half a man'' before their Australian clash.

``Today I beat the world number one and this is something very special to me,'' the 19-year-old Mauresmo said. ``In Australia, I had beaten Lindsay Davenport who was in the top spot then. Today I beat the other one, and this is superb.

``I knew I had made several mistakes during the final in Australia and I told myself I couldn't afford to miss the opportunity to beat her one more time.

``I had nothing to lose and I took risks and this time it worked,'' she said.

The Frenchwoman had a poor start, losing her serve in the third game, and had no answer to the gifted Hingis, who showed touches of her best form to take the first set.

``I had pressure on my shoulders in the beginning because I wanted to do well, especially with fans who came here to back me up,'' Mauresmo said.

``I felt more confident in the second set. My serve improved a little and I played my forehand every time I could. I saw she was physically tired and she was getting nervous. And I realized I could make it.''

Mauresmo broke Hingis's serve in the first game and stepped up a gear to take the second set emphatically.

Knocked out of her stride, Hingis tried to react in the decider but the Swiss top seed could not avoid another break on her serve to give Mauresmo a 5-3 lead.

On the first match point, Hingis hit a shot wide, leaving the 4,500 crowd to acclaim Mauresmo's victory.

``I could imagine what it must have been like to be at the France-Brazil (soccer) final,'' Hingis said. ``The atmosphere was incredible. I usually like this kind of match in such an environment. Today I enjoyed the atmosphere but not the result.''

Saturday, sixth seed Mauresmo faces Belgium's Dominique Van Roost, who ousted Russian Elena Likhovtseva 7-5 6-0.

``Van Roost and I know each other. It's not going to be an easy ride but I think I can do it,'' Mauresmo said.