Venus Williams also cannot look ahead to the semifinals, where an intriguing matchup looms either way with Hingis or her younger sister.

The reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion will face 10th seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, who has not dropped a set in the tournament as she vies for her third semifinal appearance in Melbourne.

In men's quarterfinal action, former champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, seeded fifth, meets No. 15 Arnaud Clement of France. Another seeded Frenchman, No. 16 Sebastien Grosjean, goes against 1997 finalist Carlos Moya of Spain, who is unseeded.

Hingis and Serena Williams have not dropped a set leading up to their quarterfinal clash.

Hingis, the top seed from Switzerland, blew past unseeded Rita Grande of Italy in just 46 minutes on Monday. Serena Williams, seeded sixth, thrashed 17-year-old Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic in a little over an hour.

Gunning for a fourth Australian Open title in five years, Hingis is 5-4 lifetime against Serena Williams after winning the last two matches. However, Serena Williams won their biggest meeting at the final of the 1999 U.S. Open.

"I looked up at the draw at the beginning, I was thinking, `OK, I hopefully get a few rounds down quite easily before I have to play (Serena Williams),'" Hingis said. "I think if I'm playing well, I have the chance to beat anybody out there."

Hingis is seeking her first Grand Slam title since winning here in 1999. She was denied a fourth straight title in Melbourne with a loss to Lindsay Davenport in last year's final.

The 20-year-old Hingis is unbeaten in 11 matches this season after helping Switzerland win the Hopman Cup in Perth and capturing the adidas International two weeks ago.

Serena Williams lost to Hingis two weeks ago in the quarterfinals at Sydney, but hopes her next match will be different.

"Right now I'm playing a little better," she said. "I'm feeling a lot better. I've prepared for (this match). If I haven't prepared for it, then there's nothing I can do. My preparation has been done before I got off the airplane into Australia."

On Monday, Venus Williams extended her winning streak on hard courts to 29 matches with a three-set win over 1999 runner-up Amelie Mauresmo of France. She has won 18 straight Grand Slam matches since falling to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the quarterfinals of last year's French Open.

Coetzer topped unseeded Paola Suarez of Argentina in straight sets on Monday and will attempt to defeat Venus Williams for just the second time in eight meetings.

"(Coetzer) is a top player," Venus Williams said. "She has a lot of experience. She's looking forward to capitalize on this opportunity, getting to the semifinals. I can't take anything for granted."

Kafelnikov, the highest seed left in the men's draw, moved into the quarterfinals Monday with a straight-sets victory over unseeded Swede Andreas Vinciguerra. The 26-year-old Russian is 17-1 at the Australian Open since 1999, when he won the title. He was runner-up to Andre Agassi last year.

Things have gotten progressively easier for Kafelnikov, who overcame American Chris Woodruff in four sets on Saturday after needing five sets to eliminate Germany's Nicolas Kiefer in the previous round.

Clement dispatched Britain's Greg Rusedski in straight sets on Monday to advance to his second straight Grand Slam quarterfinal. It matched his performance at last year's U.S. Open.

The 23-year-old Frenchman is 1-2 lifetime against Kafelnikov. He earned his first win over the Russian at Cincinnati last year, 6-4, 6-1, on hard courts.

"It won't be an easy match for both of us, no matter how good we are playing," Kafelnikov said. "I'm expecting a tough match, even though people think I'm the favorite to win. I'm sure each point in that match would be exciting. I wouldn't make any prediction on who's going to win that match."

Grosjean eliminated fourth seed Magnus Norman of Sweden in four sets on Monday to reach his first career Grand Slam quarterfinal. The former junior No. 1 dropped his only set of the tournament to Norman.

Moya eliminated unseeded German Rainer Schuttler in straight sets on Monday to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal since his U.S. Open semifinal showing in 1998.

A former world No. 1, Moya appears to be back at 100 percent after being hampered by recurrent back problems over the last two years. He dumped former top-ranked player Marcelo Rios of Chile in straight sets in the first round and recorded his biggest win of the tournament by outlasting seventh seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in five sets in the third round.

Moya and Grosjean have split their two previous encounters. The Spaniard defeated Grosjean en route to winning his only Grand Slam title at the French Open in 1998. Grosjean gained revenge at Key Biscayne one year later to reach his first final in a Tennis Masters Series event.

The semifinals are set in the bottom half of the men's and women's draws. Sixth seed and defending champion Andre Agassi of the United States cruised past countryman Todd Martin, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, to set up an encounter with No. 12 Patrick Rafter of Australia. Rafter posted a 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-0 victory over 14th-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia.

On the women's side, second seed Lindsay Davenport of the United States kept her hopes of defending her title alive with a 6-4, 6-2 dusting of No. 8 Anna Kournikova of Russia, and No. 12 Jennifer Capriati outdueled fellow American and fourth seed Monica Seles, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.