Capriati, playing for the first time since winning the Australian Open in mid-January, shook off a slow start and defeated sixth-seeded Barbara Schett 7-5, 6-3. Capriati will face unseeded Nathalie Dechy in Saturday's semifinals.

Hingis recovered from an awful second set to get by eighth-seeded Daja Bedanova 6-4,0-6, 6-3. In Saturday's semifinals, Hingis will play Williams, who defeated Nicole Pratt 6-2, 7-5.

Schett won the first five games of the first set before Capriati turned it around.

``I just got off to a slow start,'' said Capriati, whose match started an hour late because of long preceding matches. ``Just kind of waiting around all day wasn't good. It took a while to warm up.

``I started getting into a better groove.''

Capriati has had trouble with Schett in the past, having dropped two of five previous matches against the Austrian.

Dechy earned the match with Capriati by defeating seventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-2 Friday after ousting fourth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy on Thursday night.

Hingis didn't expect such a battle.

``She made me play,'' Hingis said. ``I needed a match like this. I just had to get the second set over and start again.''

Williams, 4-0 lifetime against Pratt, hasn't played in a tournament since spraining her ankle in Sydney on Jan. 6.

``I feel good,'' Williams said. ``I'm ready to take the tape off, though I don't think I should.''