Hingis trailed midway through the first set before recovering for a 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 victory over the unheralded German teenager.

Two semifinals and a quarterfinal showing might be considered a hot streak for most players, but Hingis is used to more.

Before being stopped in the semifinals at Indian Wells by Kim Clijsters last month, the 20-year-old from Switzerland had reached 10 consecutive championship matches and won seven titles. In addition, she teamed with Roger Federer to win the Hopman Cup for Switzerland to start 2001.

Seeded No. 1 here, Hingis is coming off a quarterfinal loss to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain at last week's Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Florida. It marked the first time she failed to advance to the semifinals since early August 2000.

Hingis, the 1999 champion, received a first-round bye, along with the other top eight seeds.

Lamade, 18, made her season debut Monday with a win over Anastasia Myskina of Russia.

Two-time champion Conchita Martinez of Spain struggled into the third round earlier Tuesday as she rallied for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over American Lilia Osterloh, snapping a four-match losing streak. It was her first match win since the Australian Open in January.

Martinez, last year's French Open runner-up, won back-to-back titles here in 1994-95 and was a semifinalist last year.

Seven seeded players advanced in first-round action during the day session.

Ninth seed Paola Suarez of Argentina was leading Nadia Petrova, 7-6 (7-3), when the Russian retired due to injury.

Also, 10th-seeded American Amy Frazier, a loser of five of her last six matches coming into this week, got back on the winning track by crushing Andrea Glass of Germany, 6-2, 6-2.

No. 11 Lisa Raymond of the United States disposed of Japanese qualifier Rika Hiraki, 6-3, 6-0; No. 12 Meghann Shaughnessy dispatched fellow American Corina Morariu, 6-3, 6-2; No. 14 Gala Leon Garcia of Spain defeated Italian qualifier Adriana Serra-Zanetti, 6-1, 6-4; No. 15 Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia beat Sonya Jeyaseelan of Canada, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; and No. 16 Silvia Farina Elia of Italy got past South Africa's Joannette Kruger, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.

In matchups between unseeded players, Ruxandra Dragomir Ilie of Romania struggled past Japan's Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; Elena Likhovtseva of Russia held off Austrian qualifier Marion Maruska, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5); and Tatiana Panova of Russia outlasted American Meilen Tu, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-0).

First prize at this Tier I event is $178,000.