Since falling to Venus Williams in the second round at the Sydney International in January, 1998, Hingis has not lost before the quarterfinals.

However, the 18-year-old Hingis has not claimed a title since defeating Amanda Coetzer in the Pan Pacific Open in Japan on February 7. It was her second consecutive triumph, having won her third straight Australian Open title the week before. She has lost in the quarterfinals of her last three events (Paris Open, Evert Cup, and Lipton Championships).

Making her first appearance at Hilton Head since earning the title here in 1997, Hingis will try to win her second match over Plischke in as many tries. She beat the 21-year-old Austrian in straight sets last year in Montreal.

In other second-round matches at the first claycourt event of the year, No. 2 Monica Seles of the United States takes on Belarussian Olga Barabanchikova, and sixth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland meets American Lisa Raymond.

Seles, who is without a title this year, has won seven of nine matches in Hilton Head. In addition to her final loss to Hingis, Seles reached the semifinals last season, saving five match points against Schnyder in the quarterfinals.

Last year's runner-up and ninth seed Irina Spirlea of Romania battles Croatian Iva Majoli in the night match. Before winning her opening-round match, Spirlea had dropped six of her last seven matches. She is just 5-6 this season.

Also today, 10th seed and two-time champion Conchita Martinez of Spain plays France's Alexia Dechaume-Balleret; No. 13 Silvia Farina of Italy meets Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual; 14th-seeded Russian Elena Likhovtseva faces Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France; No. 16 Henreitta Nagyova of the Czech Republic squares off against Italian Rita Grande; and Andrea Glass of Germany takes on Romania's Ruxandra Dragomir.

First prize is $150,000.