HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) -- Martina Hingis kept her winning streak alive in the Family Circle Cup, even if her game lagged a little Friday.

Hingis, the world's top player, won the first seven games against No. 11 Natasha Zvereva, then held on through a second-set tiebreaker 6-0, 7-6, to reach the semifinals at Sea Pines Racquet Club.

Zvereva's screwball assortment of lobs, spins and slices caught up with Hingis after a quick opening set.

``In one way, it's fun to play her,'' Hingis said. ``But it also just makes you crazy.''

Hingis swept to the title in her last appearance here two years ago. This week, she has mostly showed the same confident style and aggressive swagger in beating Silvia Plischke and Conchita Martinez. Hingis' streak grew to eight straight victories, still far short of Chris Evert's tournament record of 32 consecutive singles victories.

``It seems like when I come here I feel better, the bones don't hurt so much on clay,'' Hingis said with a laugh.

She will face third-seeded Jana Novotna, 6-2, 6-4 winner over No. 16 Henrieta Nagyova, on Saturday.

No. 6 Patty Schnyder needed a third-set tiebreaker to top No. 14 Elena Likhovtseva 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) and move on to face No. 7 Anna Kournikova, the Russian teen queen who may have had the easiest day when Andrea Glass retired with a left hip flexor strain early in the second set.

Hingis took 21 minutes to blank Zvereva, the world's top-ranked doubles player, in the first set then grabbed a 3-1 lead in the second set.

Zvereva, twice a Family Circle finalist, extended points and got back in the match. Suddenly Hingis missed lines and netted serves while Zvereva caught chalk on her rocket groundstrokes.

Hingis' dominance returned for the tiebreaker and she reached her fifth semis in seven tournaments this season.

Novotna had waited out a four-hour rain delay Thursday night before winning her third-round match in cold, dreary conditions for the right to face Nagyova.

``When I finished (Thursday), I was really tired from just being here and hanging around for such a long time,'' Novotna said. ``But I got some good rest and was mentally much calmer today.''

If anyone can match Hingis' confidence, it might be Kournikova. She is known mostly as a hardcourt star -- her best showing was the 1998 Lipton finals -- but she has focused on tuning up her clay game.

``In juniors, I won about everything on clay,'' she said. ``In Russia, we only had clay, so it's not a new surface to me.''

Also not new are the packs of fans following her around Sea Pines, pestering her to sign her poster and hanging off the stands when she plays. Despite all that, she's in the semifinals for the second time in seven tournaments this year.

``It's my life,'' she said. ``Like I said, what would I be doing if I wasn't playing tennis?''