NEW YORK (AP) -- Martina Hingis and Venus Williams figured they would meet in the semifinals of the season-ending Chase Championships.

``It's fun playing her because she is one of the best players on the tour right now,'' Hingis, the tournament's defending champion, said of Williams. ``So it's always motivation and challenging to go out there and try to beat her.''

The top-seeded Hingis advanced by defeating fifth-seeded Mary Pierce 6-1, 6-2 Thursday night. Williams was pressed a little more before stopping No. 7 Barbara Schett 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

The other semifinal pairing will be decided tonight when No. 2 Lindsay Davenport plays Germany's Anke Huber and No. 6 Nathalie Tauziat takes on Dominique Van Roost of Belgium.

In last year's Chase Championships final, Hingis defeated Davenport.

The world's top player has beaten Williams in eight of their 13 meetings. But Williams has won their last two matches and three of their five clashes this year.

With Williams ranked No. 3 in the world, any time she and Hingis collide is in either the semifinals or title match. That's been true in nine of their last 11 meetings.

But surprisingly, this will be the first time they will have met on a carpet surface, which could favor the heavy-hitting Williams.

Against Schett, Williams pounded nine aces and had one serve clocked at 116 mph. When she wasn't watching a serve fly past, Schett returned it weakly.

``Usually she returns well,'' Williams said. ``Maybe it's the court because it's faster and lower. The ball just goes a little lower.

``I think that had a lot to do with it. I'm not returning my serve, so I don't know.''

Besides her huge serve and powerful ground strokes, which kept Schett on the run and usually pinned behind the baseline, Williams showed her own style when going from one end of the court to the other.

While Schett walked around the net as the players changed ends during the tiebreak, Williams took the short route, hurdling the net.

``I saw it. Everybody did,'' Schett said of Williams' impromptu jump. ``It's great that she can do that. It's entertaining for the people.''

Schett also pounds the ball, but against Williams found herself consistently outgunned. The match was 24 minutes old before Schett won a point on Williams' serve, and that came on an error by Williams.

The only break of serve came in the sixth game of the first set when Schett was long with a forehand.

In the second-set tiebreak, Schett began with a double-fault, her third of the match, but got the minibreak right back when Williams was wide with a backhand. Williams then won six of the next seven points to clinch a semifinal berth.

It took Hingis 58 minutes to defeat her French foe. She did it easily, with the exception of the sixth game of the second set.

Pierce pushed Hingis to deuce five times before the Swiss miss finally prevailed.

``Each time I had a break point I made a mistake,'' Pierce said. ``That pretty much is the story of the match.''

Hingis played her normal tactical game, using placement, pace, spins and smarts, the same tactics that carried her to seven tournaments titles this year and helped her regain her No. 1 ranking.

``She's No. 1 in the world,'' Pierce said. ``I think she's playing pretty good.''