Graf struggled early but pulled out a 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4 victory. The German took a 5-2 lead in the third set before losing the next two games, with Likhovtseva serving to even the score. But Graf earned the win with a service break of Likhovtseva, who double faulted on match point.

The victory moved Graf into a tough quarter-final matchup against second seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland, who replaced Graf atop the rankings in March 1997. Hingis recently lost the top spot to American Lindsay Davenport.

Graf did not need to take the court to earn a berth in next week's prestigious Chase Championships. She received help from fifth seed and former arch rival Monica Seles, who ousted Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals.

The combination of Seles's win andthe withdrawal of Venus Williams from next week's event lifted Graf, ranked 17th on the WTA tour, into the 16-woman tournament.

A five-time champion at the Chase Championships, Graf could set up a second-round showdown with Seles next week by defeating her first-round opponent, third seed and defending champion Jana Novotna.

Seles drew Russian teenager Anna Kournikova as her first-round opponent at the Chase Championships.

The 29-year-old Graf has battled a series of injuries this year, but may have turned the corner last week by winning the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, Germany. She has taken 13 of her last 14 matches and last week's triumph was her 105th career singles title, the most among active players.

Her other win came at the Pilot Pen International, which was a tuneup for the US Open. Graf underwent surgery after losing in the fourth round of the US Open.

The Chase Championships have been good to Graf, who won the event as recently as 1995 and 1996.

In other matches yesterday, sixth seedNathalie Tauziat of France defeated American Lisa Raymond 6-3, 6-1 but seventh seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland was not as fortunate, losing to American qualifier Amy Frazier 6-3, 6-1.

Next week, Schnyder faces Hingis in the first round while Tauziat, the eighth seed, plays Natasha Zvereva of Belarus.

Ivanisevic in semis

MOSCOW: Goran Ivanisevic fired 12 aces on his way to a crushing 6-2, 6-1 quarter-final victory over German qualifier Lars Burgsmuller in the Kremlin Cup yesterday.

His semifinal opponent will be France's Arnaud Clement, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Canadian Sebastien Lareau.

Ivanisevic held his serve with ease while breaking Burgsmuller twice in each set.

He first broke the German in the fifth game by serving three successive aces then broke again in the eighth game. The match was as good as over when Ivanisevic raced into a 3-0 lead in the second set.

The lanky Croatian, who won here two years ago, said that Moscow was his last stop on the ATP tour this year and he wanted tofinish the season ``in a good way.''

Earlier, 20-year-old Clement reached the first semifinal of his professional career by eliminating Lareau, who on Wednesday had beaten top seed Alex Corretja in straight sets.

Mantilla wins

SANTIAGO: Second-seeded Felix Mantilla of Spain breezed past Eduardo Medica of Argentina 6-0, 6-1 to make the quarterfinals of the $320,000 dollars Chevrolet Cup tennis tournament.

Also advancing to quarters were Juan Antonio Marin of Costa Rica who upset eighth seeded Franco Squilari of Argentina 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and Jim Courier of The United States, who defeated Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.