Kuerten, Hingis in semis

Top seeds Gustavo Kuerten and Martina Hingis cruised into the French Open semi-finals on Tuesday with comfortable victories on the Roland Garros clay.

Kuerten stayed on track for a third French Open crown by beating Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-1, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, while Hingis still has her sights set on the only Grand Slam title to elude her after defeating unseeded Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-4.

Also winning easily was fourth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain. He beat sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 in another quarter-final.

Earlier, 14th-seeded Belgian Justine Henin breezed into the last four, demolishing Russia's Lina Krasnoroutskaya 6-1, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Kuerten's victory was the third time he has beaten Kafelnikov in a Roland Garros quarter-final, and on both previous occasions - in 1997 and 2000 -- the Brazilian went on to win the title.

"I was almost out of the tournament in the last round when I faced match point (against American qualifier Michael Russell) so I am grateful to be here," Kuerten said.

"The pressure is getting less and less, I am not so much the favourite now, I think."

DEVASTATING TENNIS

He played like the tournament favourite, though, starting the better on Centre Court and wrapping up the opening set with some devastating baseline play before Kafelnikov, seeded seventh, hit back to level.

The Russian, French Open champion in 1996, squandered five break points at 4-4 in the third set, though, and Kuerten went on to take it in a tiebreak.

Kafelnikov lost heart and the Brazilian reeled off the fourth set with ease, clinching victory in two hours, 32 minutes.

He will next play Spanish fourth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero or sixth-seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who meet later on Tuesday.

Hingis, the Swiss world number one, overwhelmed her 20-year-old Italian opponent with a series of wrong-footing groundstrokes and deft touches around the court.

The victory, achieved in 68 minutes, put Hingis through to her fifth consecutive semifinal at Roland Garros.

Hingis, who hasn't won a Grand Slam tournament since the 1999 Australian Open, will next play fourth seed Jennifer Capriati or number six Serena Williams, who meet later on Tuesday in an all-American quarter-final.

"Maybe I was a little bit too confident in the second set," Hingis said. "But it is a good thing to be confident."

19th BIRTHDAY

Henin, who celebrated her 19th birthday last week, needed just 50 minutes on a sunny Court Suzanne Lenglen to complete her victory.

The 14th seed played with grace and guile to overwhelm the 17-year-old Krasnoroutskaya, a former junior world number one.

"I did what I wanted to do, it is a fifth consecutive straight-sets win which is important," said Henin, who began the year with back-to-back tournament wins on Australia's Gold Coast and in Canberra.

"I have prepared well," she added. "My coach and I have worked on the problems of pressure and how to release it. I played much more freely today."

Henin will next face 12th-seeded compatriot Kim Clijsters or Hungarian Petra Mandula, who meet in Tuesday's last women's quarter-final.

"It's the French Open, the biggest tournament of the year for me and there is a lot of interest in Belgium," Henin said.

The two remaining men's quarter-finals will be played on Wednesday, when third seed Andre Agassi plays home favourite and 10th seed Sebastien Grosjean and unseeded Swiss Roger Federer takes on Spanish 13th seed Alex Corretja.