Young Hingis riding high after her fall

Phil Brown

Wednesday, Jan. 22, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- If Martina Hingis becomes the youngest Grand Slam champion of this century, she might have another distinction too: The only titlist ever to fall off a horse during a major tournament.

The fall during an attempted jump Tuesday didn't stop the 16-year-old Swiss star from continuing her ride. Then today, Irina Spirlea couldn't stop Hingis from advancing to her second consecutive Grand Slam semifinal, falling 7-5, 6-2 to Hingis' precise, confident strokes under pressure.

Hingis made only one unforced error in the second set.

In the first semifinal of Hingis' Grand Slam career, in the U.S. Open last summer, top-ranked Steffi Graf proved too formidable an obstacle.

In the Australian Open, the top three seeds -- Graf, Aranxta Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez -- all lost before the quarterfinals. Defending champion Monica Seles stayed away because of a broken finger.

For a place in the final, the fourth-seeded Hingis next faces No. 14 Mary Joe Fernandez, a 7-5, 4-0 winner when Belgian giant-killer Dominique Van Roost quit in tears and pain from an abdominal muscle injury.

"Her game suits me," Hingis said of Fernandez.

The other semifinal pits No. 12 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, Graf's conqueror, against 1995 champion Mary Pierce, unseeded after a dismal 1996.

The men's semifinal lineup also includes some unfamiliar faces for such a late stage in a hardcourt Grand Slam tournament.

No. 5 Thomas Muster, an undisputed master on clay but playing only his second Grand Slam semifinal on any other surface, reached that stage by capitalizing on the errors of No. 3 Goran Ivanisevic for a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 victory.

Ivanisevic had 16 aces, but won only 28 percent of his second-serve points as he tried desperately for winners and sprayed 54 unforced errors to Muster's 14.

Muster now faces No. 1 Pete Sampras, who needed five sets to beat No. 10 Albert Costa of Spain despite losing serve only once. Sampras had 23 aces as he prevailed 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 in 2 hours, 52 minutes.

"That will be a war," Sampras said of Muster. "He's playing at a very high level, beating Goran and Jim Courier. But I'm playing well, too."

Sampras, also extended to five sets Monday against Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty, is 7-0 in five-set matches in the Australian Open. The American is 24-8 overall in five-set matches, winning 10 of his last 11.

Also in the semifinals, facing No. 2 Michael Chang of Henderson is No. 25-ranked Carlos Moya of Spain, whose first year of Grand Slam tournaments in 1996 produced two first- and two second-round losses.