INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Martina Hingis said she was a little tired and a step slow.

Perhaps that's why it took her 20 minutes longer to beat Elena Likhovtseva in the third round of the Pacific Life Open than it took her to eliminate Silvija Talaja in the second round.

Hingis, seeded second, needed 61 minutes to beat Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-3 Sunday -- a day after overwhelming Talaja, a qualifier, 6-0, 6-1.

Hingis closed out the match against Likhovtseva, the No. 26 seed, by breaking the Russian's serve for the seventh time.

""She's also a better player (than Talaja) in a way," Hingis said. "Yesterday I was relieved that everything went well and my (right) wrist wasn't bothering me. Kind of (due to) all the pressure, all the excitement after yesterday's match, I was a little tired today. I was a little step slow. But it helped me to have won this match the way I did."

It kept Hingis in line for a potential championship match against third-seeded Justine Henin, who beat Adriana Serra Zanetti 6-3, 6-0, in another third-round match Sunday.

"I was aggressive, but patient also," said the 18-year-old Henin. "I just played my game. I served well. I was pretty aggressive on the return. So everything was fine in my game today."

What made it even more fine was that the roads she and Hingis must travel to the finals got a little easier as Alexandra Stevenson, Anne Kremer and Cara Black pulled off upsets in other third-round matches at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Kremer ousted fifth-seeded Jelena Dokic, 6-3, 6-0; Stevenson outlasted eighth seed Elena Dementieva 6-4, 0-6, 6-4, and Cara Black, ranked 84th on the WTA Tour, beat No. 14 Tamarine Tanasugarn 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Dementieva's defeat leaves second-seeded Hingis in line for a meeting with No. 7 Silvia Farina Elia in the semifinals and removes Dokic as a quarterfinal obstacle for Henin, who now could face No. 6 Meghann Shaughnessy in the semifinals.