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Martina Hingis is chasing a legend here at the Australian Open. Last statue on the left as you enter Melbourne Park. Name of Margaret Court.

Court, the Australian star of the 1950s, ‘60s and early ‘70s on the women tennis tour, who is immortalized in the two statue rows here of all-time Aussie tennis heroes, won the women’s singles title in this event 11 times, seven of them in succession. Playing as Margaret Smith before her marriage, Court started her title streak in 1960. Then, as Margaret Court, she won in ‘69, ‘70, ’71 and ’73.

Hingis has won here the last three years, and her quest to make that four continued to play out nicely in the quarterfinals today, where she dispatched veteran Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, 6-1, 6-1, in 45 minutes. Hingis, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, got her first serve in 71% of the time, hit 19 winners and made only seven unforced errors. It was textbook stuff and Sanchez-Vicario, who has made it to the final here twice, but is also 28, sliding down the rankings and about to get married, was the student, not the teacher. The match marked the 13th consecutive time Hingis has beaten Sanchez-Vicario.

That put Hingis into one of Thursday’s semifinals against Conchita Martinez. She is another Spanish veteran, who, despite also making a final here just two years ago and having a Wimbledon title to her credit in ‘94, is also in the twilight of her career.

Martinez got to the semifinals by winning an excruciatingly long and tense match against Elena Likhovtseva of Russia, 6-3, 4-6, 9-7. Martinez had match points while serving at 6-5, but failed on both and needed to make a nifty backhand passing shot while serving at 8-7 to finally win, 2 hours 35 minutes after it started. Few of the men’s matches here have gone that long, and they play best-of-five sets.

Likhovtseva had pulled the big upset of Serena Williams two days ago, but she hadn’t won a set against Martinez in their two previous meetings, and while she got a set this time, she could not close it out against a player in her 10th Australian Open and one who has won more than $8 million in her career.

Martinez admitted afterward to being tired, but said she would recover just fine. She needs to. The last time she beat Hingis was eight matches ago, in the 1996 Italian Open.

The other semifinal, probably of more appeal to Americans, will be Jennifer Capriati versus Lindsay Davenport. Davenport is ranked and seeded No. 2, and like the No. 1-seeded Hingis, she made short work of her opponent in the Tuesday night quarterfinal, beating No. 9-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis of France, 6-1, 6-2.

Afterward, Davenport called the story of unseeded Capriati one of the best of the tournament and added, “I’m sure the crowd will be for her and probably in everyone’s hearts in the States. I mean, if she was playing anyone else, I’d want her to win too.”

Capriati is 23 now, and just three months older than Davenport. But Capriati joined the pro tour at 13, while Davenport said she was still struggling to see if she were any sort of player at all.

“I was nothing like her,” Davenport said. “She got to the finals in her first tournament and was ranked in the top 10 in no time. It was amazing. She was one of my idols for about a year.”

Capriati, of course, fell off the tour in ’94 and ’95 during her teenage rebellion years and is just now working her way back to the elite level. She even talked a bit here about wishing she could work her way onto the Olympic team, since the 1992 Barcelona Games remain her fondest memory when she won a gold medal there.

But that, at the moment, is a longshot, as is getting past the heavy-hitting, bigger-serving Davenport.

A Davenport-Hingis final, which seems likely, would have a number of angles, besides Hingis’ quest to win her fourth in a row.

In their last three meetings, including the recent season-ending Chase Championships in New York, Davenport has beaten Hingis. Even if that is the result, Hingis will stay No. 1, Davenport No. 2 in the ranking points.

Notes

With the quarterfinal between Magnus Norman and Nicolas Kiefer on tonight’s schedule, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the No. 2-seeded Russian, made the only advancement through the men’s bracket. He continued his quietly efficient run through the bottom half of the draw, as all eyes stayed on Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, with a 6-0, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco. Kafelnikov will play the Norman-Kiefer winner. . . . Ted Schroeder reports, for all those who once played with the old Wilson Kramer racket, that the sporting goods company has manufactured a special commemorative line of the racket, with the same design but with the new graphite technology. They are planning a limited edition of 5,000 rackets, 3,000 in the United States.