The fifth-seeded Seles scored five service breaks and won the final three games to defeat the third-seeded Capriati, 6-3, 6-3, and record her ninth win in 13 lifetime meetings with her fellow American.

Seles reached the semifinals here for the fifth time in as many appearances, improving her career record at the Acura Classic to 14-4. She also reached the final in 1991, 1997 and 2000 but has never won here.

Seles will meet top seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland, who eased past Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 6-3, 6-4, on Friday night. That is not exactly good news for Seles, who is 2-12 all-time vs. Hingis with seven straight losses since the 1998 du Maurier Open.

In two United States-France quarterfinals, defending champion and second seed Venus Williams crushed sixth seed Nathalie Tauziat, 6-2, 6-2, and fourth seed Lindsay Davenport outlasted 12th seed Sandra Testud, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5).

By reaching the final four, Davenport assured herself of moving past Williams into third in the world rankings, regardless of the outcome of their showdown Saturday. Davenport holds a 10-7 lead in the all-time series but Williams has won four of the last five.

Seles recorded her second win over Capriati since losing to her in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. In February, Seles posted a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Capriati in the final of the IGA U.S. Indoors at Oklahoma City.

The former world No. 1, who is competing in just her third event since March after being sidelined by a foot injury, advanced to the semifinals at last week's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, California before losing to the eventual champion, Belgian teenager Kim Clijsters.

Seles also avenged her heartbreaking three-set loss to Capriati in the 1991 final of the San Diego event.

Capriati, the reigning Australian and French Open champion, served five double-faults and committed 24 unforced errors as her 2001 record slipped to 41-8.

The winner here in 1991 and 1992, Capriati had reached at least the semifinals in eight of 10 tournaments this year and is ranked a career-high No. 2 this week. She was playing in her first tournament since having her Grand Slam bid dashed by Justine Henin in the semifinals at Wimbledon.

Hingis reached the semifinals of her first event since being embarrassed in straight sets in the first round of Wimbledon by Italian Virginia Ruano Pascual.

The world No. 1 has won three tournaments this year but none since February. She took the adidas International, Qatar Open and Dubai Open and reached the final of her first five WTA Tour events of 2001.

Williams is trying to rebound from her stunning quarterfinal loss to fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy at last week's Bank of the West Classic, where she also was the defending champion.

Williams, who won her third career Grand Slam crown at Wimbledon and also claimed titles at Miami and Hamburg, captured this event last year in a season that included a 35-match winning streak. She also was runner-up here in 1998.

Davenport reached the final last week in Stanford before losing to Clijsters. The native of Newport Beach, California won her other final appearance this season and took this event in 1998.

If Davenport beats Williams, she also will vault Capriati into the No. 2 slot.

First prize is $125,000.