Clijsters, Hantuchova advance to fourth round of Pacific Life Open

<br>INDIAN WELLS, California (AP) _ Top-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium and 2002 champion Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia advanced to the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open after posting straight-set

Sunday, March 9th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

INDIAN WELLS, California (AP) _ Top-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium and 2002 champion Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia advanced to the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open after posting straight-set wins Sunday.

Clijsters, who lost to Serena Williams in the 2001 final of the tournament, withstood the challenge from Francesca Schiavone of Italy to win 7-5, 6-4.

Hantuchova, who beat Martina Hingis for the title last year, won her eighth match without a loss on the slow hard court of Indian Wells Tennis Garden by beating Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 7-6 (4), 6-2.

``I just love playing out there so much,'' Hantuchova said. ``I really enjoy every second I can be there. Hopefully I will get many more matches out there. She came out playing really good tennis in the first set and I really had to step up my game, really fight. In the second, I felt like I was in control of the match and I finished it well.''

Chanda Rubin, Ai Sugiyama and Nathalie Dechy also won. Eighth-seeded Rubin, who won two titles last year, rolled into the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Jelena Kostanic of Croatia.

Dechy, the 15th-seeded Frenchwoman, ousted Silvia Farina Elia of Italy 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Japan's Sugiyama, the 21st seed, advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 10 Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, and Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland, a semifinalist here a year ago, was a 7-6 (3), 6-0 winner over Cara Black of Zimbabwe.

Sugiyama won her seventh straight match. She won the title at Scottsdale, Arizona, where she beat Lindsay Davenport, Eleni Daniilidou, Alexandra Stevenson and Clijsters.