TOKYO, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Putting her Australian Open meltdown behind her, top seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland advanced to the quarterfinals at the $1.2 million Pan Pacific
Open Wednesday.
Hingis cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Germany's Marlene Weingartner. She wasted four championship points Saturday in unbearable heat as world No. 1 Jennifer Capriati rallied from a
one-set, 0-4 hole to win her second straight Australian Open title against the Swiss star.
A three-time winner and finalist the last five years at the Pan Pacific Open, Hingis is gunning for her second title of the year. The 21-year-old defeated Meghann Shaughnessy on Jan. 12 to capture the adidas International crown at Sydney.
Hingis lost to Lindsay Davenport a year ago in the Tokyo final.
Fourth seed Sandrine Testud of France, coming off a first-round defeat in Melbourne, rallied past Barbara Schett of Austria, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, to reach the quarterfinals for the second time this season.
Testud and Hingis received byes into the second round.
In first-round action, fifth-seeded Silvia Farina Elia of Italy topped Russia's Tatiana Panova, 6-4, 7-5, and No. 7 Elena Dementieva of Russia rolled past Japanese qualifier Saori Obata, 6-3, 6-3.
Also, American Alexandra Stevenson dispatched fellow qualifier Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia, 6-1, 6-4, Anne Kremer of Luxembourg beat Elena Likhovtseva of Russia, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, and Belgian qualifier Els Callens overcame Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.
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