Davenport, Rafter Both Advance

Lindsay Davenport overcame the wind, the rain, a persistent opponent and her own nerves Wednesday before earning her second straight semifinal berth at the U.S. Open.

Despite

"It was tough conditions out there. The wind was so strong," Davenport said.

In other early action, third-seeded defending champion Patrick Rafter advanced to the men's semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 victory over No. 12 Jonas Bjorkman.

The wind moved the ball on the service toss up to two feet as temperatures hovered in the mid 60s. Sweaters, jackets and blankets were in full display in Arthur Ashe Stadium as fans tried to keep warm.

Davenport next will face the winner of Wednesday's quarterfinal between No. 4 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and No. 5 Venus Williams.

"I prefer Venus a little," the second-seeded Davenport said. "We have the same style, and if I keep her deep, she can't be so offensive. Arantxa hits everything back."

The hard-hitting Davenport used her power to dominate Coetzer in their baseline shootout in the opening set. Rain suspended play in the fourth game of the set, but nothing helped Coetzer -- at 5-foot-2 one of the smallest players on the tour -- until Davenport began making more unforced errors.

Coetzer finally held to begin the second set. The two again had a break whe a shower swept through the area, then Coetzer put pressure on Davenport's serve, twice reaching break point.

Davenport finally held, then broke her South African opponent from deuce for a 2-1 lead.

Davenport conquered the wind, then crushed Coetzer. (AP)

Coetzer finally broke Davenport's serve in the eighth game to pull even at 4-4, then dropped her own at 30. Davenport served for the match, but it took 16 points -- including five match points -- before she finally closed out the victory.

The other women's semifinal matchup was decided Tuesday when defending champion Martina Hingis beat No. 6 Monica Seles 6-4, 6-4 and Wimbledon winner Jana Novotna stopped No. 11 Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-3.

"I just played very well, very concentrated," Hingis admitted. "I served very well and didn't make many mistakes."

On the men's side, Andre Agassi couldn't keep pace with ninth-seeded Karol Kucera, falling to the Slovak 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 1-6, 6-3 in a rain-delayed match that started Monday.

Three Swedes reached the men's quarterfinals to give America's premier tennis tournament a blue and yellow tinge. No. 12 Jonas Bjorkman defeated Dutchman Jan Siemerink 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2; Thomas Johansson upset No. 11 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7); and Magnus Larsson eliminated Germany's Oliver Gross 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.

In the other fourth-round matches, defending champion Patrick Rafter defeated No. 14 Goran Ivanisevic 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1; unseeded Mark Philippoussis upset No. 13 Tim Henman 7-5, 0-6, 6-4, 6-1; and No. 10 Carlos Moya downed No. 7 Alex Corretja 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 6-3.

Seles was extremely sharp, especially considering the strong winds that played havoc with the ball. But Hingis was absolutely brilliant, answering nearly every Seles shot with a better one.

"I was a little worried going into the match because I wasn't playing my best and I lost two times to Monica before this," Hingis said. "I was playing well tonight. My serve was very good and I didn't make any mistakes. I was on a good wave."

Seles defeated Hingis in their two previous matches this year, including the French Open semifinals. But on Tuesday night, Hingis lost just seven points on her serve in the first set.

Both players had more winners than errors. But Hingis seemed to step up her game and win all of the key points, including a net cord that closed out the final break in the seventh game of the second set.

After that, the world's top-ranked player served two love games to cement her semifinal date with Novotna.

Hingis, who won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in 1997, is seeking her second this year. he won the Australian Open in January.

Novotna made short work of Schnyder, the 19-year-old Swiss Fed Cup teammate of Hingis who knocked Steffi Graf out of the tournament in the previous round.

"I was pleased when I heard the news that she beat Steffi," Novotna said. "There's no question about it. I mean, playing Steffi today in this (wind) condition, it would be really difficult because she hits really hard and she's very overpowering. It would be much harder to create my game."

Playing Novotna proved more difficult for Schnyder, especially because of the wind.

"It was terrible to play in," she said. "At the beginning, it was not that bad. But it started to get really bad and she played so deep, I couldn't really find my game. Then it got worse and worse. It was horrible."

"I just started very slow and then she played really good and she didn't let me find my game."

Kucera had never won a match at the National Tennis Center before this year. Now he faces top-seeded Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals Wednesday night.

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