With the quarterfinals starting Friday (Thursday night in the United States), Japan has two players remaining in contention as Ai Sugiyama and Shinobu Asagoe scored upset second-round victories to reach the round of eight.

Both, however, will face stiff competition in the quarterfinals. Sugiyama has drawn top seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland as her quarterfinal opponent and Asagoe, a wild card entry into the tournament, faces No. 8 seed Magadlane Maleeva of Bulgaria.

Hingis owns a lifetime 4-1 mark over Sugiyama and has defeated her twice before in this tournament. However, the last time the two met here was in 1999 and Hingis had to go three sets to pull out the victory.

While Hingis is the heavy favorite, no one gave Sugiyama much of a chance of beating Testud in the previous round yet she won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.

Sugiyama's tactic was simple and one she will undoubtedly employ against Hingis. "I played at my own pace and and went out thinking I had nothing to lose," said Sugiyama, who beat Testud for the first time in five meetings.

Asagoe is in even better position for an upset than Sugiyama. She has never faced Maleeva before and presents all kinds of possible problems for the world's No. 4 ranked player to encounter. Asagoe's confidence is sky high after having upset No. 4 seed Amanda Coetzer of Russia, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5).

"In the past when playing top players I was nervous, but today I felt all the way through that I wanted to and believed I could win," Asagoe said.

In other quarterfinal matches Friday, No. 2 seed Lindsay Davenport of the United States meets Iva Majoli of Croatia and No. 3 Anna Kournikova of Russia faces Anne Gaelle Sidot of France.

The 24-year-old Davenport is making her sixth straight appearance at this tournament, taking the title in 1998 and finishing second in 1995.

Davenport and Majoli have split eight lifetime matches, but Majoli defeated Davenport the only other time they met on a carpeted surface.

Kournikova, who is playing in the quarterfinals here for the third time, is 1-1 lifetime with Sidot. However, Kournikova beat her in straight sets here last year.

First prize at the $1.188 million event is $175,000.