AMELIA ISLAND, FLORIDA (TICKER) -- It is fitting that Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario ended her 15-match losing streak against world No. 1. Martina Hingis of Switzerland at the Bausch & Lomb Championships.
A two-time champion of the Amelia Island claycourt tournament, Sanchez Vicario beat Hingis, 6-2, 6-4 on Friday in a quarterfinal match.
After beating Hingis in their first-ever meeting, Sanchez-Vicario lost the next 15 before Friday's quarterfinal.
"I approached the match thinking I had to be more aggressive," said Sanchez-Vicario, who improved to 38-9 and reached the semifinal for the first time since 1996. "I took some chances and probably surprised her."
Hingis had won their four meetings on clay since 1997 -- all in straight sets. She has captured all WTA Tour Tier I tournaments and three of the four Grand Slam events but has not won this event, which has been claimed by all the other No. 1 players in the last 20 years.
Sanchez-Vicario will play No. 6 Amelie Mauresmo of France in the semifinals.
Mauresmo advanced in a walkover when third-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia was forced to default with a torn left plantar fascia of the foot.
Mauresmo has won her last 12 matches and captured titles in her homeland at Paris and Nice in February.
Fourth seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa earned her third semifinal berth at Amelia Island with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 10 Meghann Shaughnessy of the United States on Friday. Shaughnessy was celebrating her 22nd birthday.
The night quarterfinal match features unseeded players Silvia Farina Elia of Italy and Nadia Petrova of Russia.
Farina Elia knocked off second seed Conchita Martinez of Spain in the second round and followed with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Maria Emilia Salerni of Argentina.
Petrova downed American Jill Craybas, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), in the third round.
