| INDIAN WELLS, California (Ticker) -- Top seed Martina
Hingis continues her march toward a third straight singles title when she
plays her third-round match Saturday at the Tennis Masters Series at Indian
Wells.
Hingis, the 1998 champion, will battle Spanish qualifier Cristina Torrens-Valero
for a spot in the quarterfinals.
There are 16 second-round matches on the slate, headlined by seven of
the top 16 seeds.
Seventh seed Serena Williams of the United States, the 1999 champion,
faces Adriana Gersi of the Czech Republic; eighth seed Elena Dementieva
of Russia, a semifinalist last year, takes on American Kristina Brandi;
and ninth seed Nathalie Tauziat of France goes against Australian qualifier
Evie Dominikovic.
Also, 10th seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain encounters American
Jennifer Hopkins; No. 12 Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria meets Belarussian
qualifier Tatiana Poutchek; No. 15 Amy Frazier of the United States plays
Rachel McQuillan of Australia; and No. 16 Barbara Schett of Austria battles
Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic.
On Friday, Hingis moved into the third round with a straight-sets win
over Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic. Hingis swept the Qatar Open
and Dubai Open in the Middle East last month for a WTA Tour-leading three
titles overall this season.
In January, Hingis defeated Lindsay Davenport to win the title at Sydney
and lost to Jennifer Capriati in the Australian Open final before falling
to Davenport in the final at Tokyo. The 20-year-old from Switzerland has
reached the final in each of the five events she has played in 2001.
Torrens-Valero, ranked 82nd in the world, set up her third-round meeting
with the world No. 1 by defeating No. 29 Tatiana Panova of Russia on Friday.
Davenport, the defending champion, also reached the third round on Friday,
along with No. 3 Venus Williams.
However, fourth-seeded American Monica Seles was shocked by Tathiana
Garbin of Italy in three sets and fifth seed Conchita Martinez of Spain
was eliminated by Elena Bovina of Russia in straight sets.
No. 11 Anke Huber of Germany, No. 13 Sandrine Testud of France, No.
14 Kim Clijsters and No. 17 Justine Henin, both of Belgium, also won their
second-round matches.
The men's portion of the event begins Monday with Spain's Alex Corretja
defending his title.
This $4.95 million event offers a first prize of $330,000 for the women's
champion and $400,000 for the men's winner.
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