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Comeback queen Martina Hingis Monday overcame memories of her worst moment at the Australian Open to set up a quarter-final clash with second seed Kim Clijsters.
Hingis become the first wildcard ever to reach the tournament's final eight with a hard-fought 6-1, 7-6 (10/8) win over Australian Samantha Stosur.
The five-time Grand Slam winner, who has turned on the style in her previous appearances at Melbourne Park after a three-year injury layoff, needed to show grit against a hometown opponent backed by a parochial crowd.
Hingis appeared to be coasting as she shot to a 6-1 lead in the first set but 21-year-old Stosur refused to lie down in the second and almost crashed the Swiss Miss' comeback party.
Stosur saved three match points before succumbing as Hingis came back from 5-2 down in a tiebreak.
Hingis said the match brought back memories of her nightmare Australian Open final with Jennifer Capriati in 2002, when she failed to convert four match points in intense heat and went on to lose.
"I was up and ... I couldn't finish it, but today I went 'OK, I'm facing Sam Stosur, who is a great player, Aussie favorite' and I came through," a relieved Hingis said.
The 25-year-old was content to grind out a win.
"The victory counts at the end of the day and that's all that matters," she said. "Easy or tough, I take it any way."
Hingis, who won the Australian Open three times from 1997-99, took heart from her dominant display in the first set.
"I think the tennis I've shown in the first set today was almost perfect," she said. "I (now know) I can play and reach that potential -- it will be just nice if I could play two like that!"
Hingis, who retired in late 2002 because of persistent injuries, said she never expected to reach the quarter-finals in the her comeback debut Grand Slam.
"Making the last eight, coming into this event I would have never thought I got that far -- now here I am," she said. "No one can take that away from me anymore. (I'm) just really happy right now."
Now ranked 349 in the world, Hingis was relishing her status as underdog in the upcoming match with world number two Clijsters.
She said the pressure of fending off constant challengers when she was the world's top ranked player had affected her before she retired.
"It was just always very stressful because you always had to defend yourself, your number one status," she said. "Every match you went out there, in a way you could win and also so much to lose.
"Right now I don't really have anything to lose ... I have nothing to prove anymore, you know."
Hingis has beaten Clijsters in four of their previous matches, but they last met in 2002, an age ago in tennis terms, and Hingis said the record was meaningless.
She said she would have to withstand the power of Clijsters' game as the Belgian would try to steamroller her in order to keep the match as brief as possible to avoid aggravating hip and back injuries.
"Definitely she tries to keep the points as short as possible and I just have to try to outlast her at this point," she said. "You know, just the first couple, three shots, are going to be key. Just try to stand against it."
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Tennis-Open-AUS-Hingis
AFP 231218 GMT 01 06
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