Seeking her second straight title in the region, Hingis defeated Testud for the second time in five days, edging the fifth-seeded Frenchwoman, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, on Thursday to reach the semifinals at the inaugural Dubai Tennis Championships.

Reigning French Open champion Mary Pierce of France continued to struggle in her comeback from shoulder problems, but this time it was tendinitis in both ankles that led to her 6-3, 6-1 quarterfinal loss to Australian qualifier Rachel McQuillan.

Hingis maintained her career mastery over Testud, improving to 14-0 lifetime against her and 8-0 since the start of 2000. Thursday's win was a little tougher for Hingis after beating Testud in straight sets in Sunday's Qatar Open final, which marked the first WTA Tour final staged in the Middle East.

The 20-year-old Hingis has started off 2001 with a 23-2 record and has won two titles. Her only losses this season were to Jennifer Capriati in the Australian Open final and to world No. 2 Lindsay Davenport one week later at the Pan Pacific Open final in Tokyo.

Up next for Hingis in the semifinals will be seventh seed Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, who downed 16-year-old Lina Krasnoroutskaya of Russia, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3.

McQuillan recorded just her third career win over a top-10 player, and moved the 29-year-old into her first WTA Tour semifinal since 1994 at Hobart, Australia.

Winless in six career finals, McQuillan will take on third seed Nathalie Tauziat of France in one of Friday's semifinals.

Tauziat struggled past Selima Sfar of Tunisia, 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-3, to advance to her second semifinal of the year.

First prize at this hardcourt event is $80,000.