After breezing through her first two matches, Hingis was pushed to the limit by Testud in their quarterfinal encounter before outlasting the Frenchwoman, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, today at the $1.08 million du Maurier Open.

Reigning U.S. Open champion Serena Williams, seeded fourth, had a much easier time advancing to Saturday's semifinals.

Seeking her second straight singles title, Williams extended her winning streak to eight matches by crushing fellow American and 16th seed Amy Frazier, 6-0, 6-1, in only 50 minutes.

After receiving an unexpected day off on Thursday, third seed Conchita Martinez of Spain broke Anne Kremer of Luxembourg seven times en route to a 6-2, 6-4 victory. Martinez, a semifinalist here in 1997, will battle Hingis for a spot in Sunday's final.

Tonight, two-time champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, seeded seventh, meets qualifier Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria.

Hingis, the defending champion, was forced to scramble during the first two sets, but the Swiss teenager was the more consistent player in the deciding set as she remained unbeaten in her career against Testud.

Hingis, who improved to 51-8 this season, is coming off a semifinal loss to Williams last week in the semifinals of the estyle.com Classic in Los Angeles. She has won four titles this season, including the Ericsson Open on hard courts, and has reached the finals at three other hardcourt events, including the Australian Open.

Last year, Hingis ended Monica Seles' four-year title reign at this event with a 6-4, 6-4 victory.

The 18-year-old Williams is trying to extend the dominance that she and her sister have displayed over the last six weeks. Venus Williams captured three straight events before Serena extended the sisters' streak to four with last week's triumph in Los Angeles.

Despite a consistent summer hardcourt season, Frazier suffered her third loss to one of the Williams sisters in the last month.

After losing to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals at Stanford, California three weeks ago, Frazier upset Hingis at San Diego the following week en route to the semifinals, where she lost again to Venus Williams. Hingis avenged her loss to Frazier with a quarterfinal win last week in Los Angeles.

The draw opened up slightly on Thursday when second seed Lindsay Davenport was forced to retire with a left foot injury in the first set of her match with Maleeva.

This tournament began in 1892 and offers a $166,000 first prize.

It is the last year the event will be known as the du Maurier Open because of recently passed laws barring tobacco companies from sponsoring sports events. Next year it will be called the Roger's AT&T Canada Cup.