ROME (AP) -- Top-seeded Martina Hingis reached the Italian Open quarterfinals with a straight-set win Thursday over Russia's Elena Likhovtseva.

Hingis rallied after losing the first three games in the final set for a 6-4, 6-3 win on the red clay at the Foro Italico.

``I was a little nervous before the match, I took her very seriously,'' Hingis said after her sixth win in six matches against Likhovtseva. ``We had long rallies, back-and-forth. It was very physical.''

Hingis, the tournament winner in 1998, will face seventh-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in Friday's quarterfinals.

Sanchez-Vicario defeated another Russian, Lina Krasnoroutskaya, 6-1, 6-2 in Thursday's third round.

Also, third-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain posted a 6-0, 6-1 win over Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic. Amelie Mauresmo beat Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals.

The fourth-seeded Frenchwoman will face Argentina's Paola Suarez, who beat Switzerland's Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-4, 6-2.

Mauresmo is coming off her fourth title of the year, having beaten Jennifer Capriati last week in the final of the German Open on clay.

Mauresmo, who lost in the final here last year, will try later this month to follow the example of Mary Pierce, who last year was the first Frenchwoman to win the French Open since 1967.

Yugoslavia's Jelena Dokic, seeded 14th, defeated Hungarian Rita Kuti Kis 6-3, 6-3.

It was the first meeting between the two since Dokic came under fire during last year's Australian Open where she lost her first-round match to Kuti Kis, then ungraciously insisted that her opponent ``is not a player and never will be a player.''

Kuti Kis had reached the third round by upsetting second-seeded Jennifer Capriati on Wednesday.

The $1.185 million tournament is a key warmup for the French Open, which Hingis never has won.

A three-time French Open champion, with 27 career tournament wins, Sanchez-Vicario never has won the Italian Open. Twice she reached the final, losing to Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina in 1989 and Martinez in 1995.