MELBOURNE, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Defending champion Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis battled their way into the final of the Australian Open Thursday.
The top-seeded Capriati recorded her third victory in as many career meetings with No. 4 Kim Clijsters of Belgium, posting a 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 win to reach her second straight championship match at Melbourne Park.
Hingis outlasted Monica Seles to reach the championship match of the Australian Open for the sixth straight year. The third-seeded Swiss star prevailed over Seles, the No. 8 seed, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
In Thursday's men's semifinal, 16th seed Thomas Johansson of Sweden came out on top against 26th seed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic in a tension-filled battle, 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, to reach a first career Grand Slam final.
The semifinal between seventh seed Tommy Haas of Germany and ninth seed Marat Safin of Russia is slated for Friday.
Capriati beat Clijsters in their first meeting since last year's French Open, where the Floridian won her second Grand Slam title in as many events.
Playing in her fifth straight Grand Slam semifinal, Capriati rolled over her teenage opponent in the final set, overpowering
Clijsters in just 23 minutes.
The 25-year-old American is trying to defend a Grand Slam title for the first time. A year ago, Capriati became the lowest seed to win a major title in the Open era and ignited her fight back from personal adversity.
In October, Capriati became the ninth woman since the introduction of the computer rankings to reach the No. 1 spot.
Hingis, a former world No. 1, won 11 of 13 games after dropping the opening set to move within one game of closing out the match. But, the "Swiss Miss" appeared tentative and dropped her serve, allowing Seles to narrow the gap at 5-4.
Seles, a four-time winner here, lost for just the third time in 45 career matches at the Australian Open.
A three-time Australian Open champion from 1997-99, Hingis will look to avoid her third straight defeat in the championship match at Rod Laver Arena. On that court, she fell to Lindsay Davenport of the United States in 2000 before losing to Capriati a year ago.
Thursday's loss dropped Seles' career mark at this tournament to 42-3. Seles had won her two previous encounters with Hingis, but the Swiss star owns a 13-4 record in their all-time series. Hingis had only 12 unforced errors in the match, but still had to hang on at the end after building a 5-1 lead in the third set.
Hingis has won five career Grand Slam titles, ranking second behind Seles among active players. Hingis also is trying to win her 40th career WTA Tour title. She won her 39th earlier this month at Sydney.
Johansson, 26, bidding to become the first Swede to win a Grand Slam tournament in nearly 10 years, powered his way into the final, recording six aces and 12 winners in the fifth.
After Johanaaon had taken the final two points to win the opening-set tiebreak Novak reeled off seven straight games to grab the second set and open an early advantage in the third.
Novak claimed the third, but registered his first double fault and an unforced error on consecutive points in the fourth to allow Johansson to knot the contest.
