AUSTRALIAN OPEN Hingis reaches quarters as comeback continues

She will face second-seeded Kim Clijsters.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Martina Hingis' comeback has gone so smoothly that she's in the Australian Open quarterfinals following three-year layoff.
Back on the tour for just three weeks, the three-time Australian Open champion advanced Monday with a 6-1, 7-6 (8) victory over Samantha Stosur and will face second-seeded Kim Clijsters.
Hingis needed four match points to beat Stosur. The five-time Grand Slam winner, who dropped off the tour because of ankle, heel and foot injuries, returned to competitive tennis Jan. 2 and hasn't lost a set at this tournament.
"I started off very well, I knew that I had to be right there from the start -- we both probably were very nervous," Hingis said. "I knew I couldn't give her any momentum."
Men's play
On the men's side, top-ranked Roger Federer overcame an uncharacteristic 58 errors in his 6-4, 6-0, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 fourth-round win over Tommy Haas.
"I was really trying to just break his momentum. Tommy was making it difficult for me to play," Federer said. "To be honest, I like to be pushed like this."
Hingis was in vintage form, working Stosur around with angled volleys, drop shots, pinpoint lobs and a stunning, running forehand crosscourt winner.
But the 25-year-old twice missed chances to serve for the match in the second set and wasting three match points in the tiebreaker before converting on a Stosur error.
"I played really well the first 1 1/2 sets," she said.
Partisan crowd
Stosur was the last Aussie in the draw and had the partisan crowd on her side. Clusters of people in pink shirts emblazoned with "Smash 'em Sam" and waving inflatable kangaroos chanted for her from the stands.
Hingis became a favorite at Melbourne when she won her first Grand Slam title age 16 and won three finals in succession. She lost three in a row from 2000-2002, including an '02 defeat to Jennifer Capriati when she wasted four match points.
In her absence, Clijsters became known locally as "Aussie Kim" during her engagement to Lleyton Hewitt -- which ended last year -- and remains popular.
They're two of the six current or former No. 1-ranked players into the quarterfinals -- a record for a Grand Slam tournament. Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport, No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo, No. 4 Maria Sharapova, No. 8 Justin Henin-Hardenne are the others.
Davenport and Henin-Hardenne meet today, while 2004 Wimbledon champion Sharapova goes against fellow Russian Nadia Petrova.
After Federer crashed simple overheads into the net in the third and fourth sets, he regained an unwavering calm opening the fifth, when he hit 18 of his 66 winners and cut his errors to six.
In the sixth game, he peeled a forehand down the line, turned an improvised, bunted a backhand service return into a winner and secured the pivotal break by forcing the 41st-ranked Haas to go for too much on a forehand.