MELBOURNE, Australia -- Jennifer Capriati's defense of her Australian Open title will face its stiffest test to date today when she plays Kim Clijsters in the semifinals.

	“	She has been playing well. She hasn't really been put to the test at all. ”
		— Jennifer Capriati, on Kim Clijsters

The two last met in the 2001 French Open final, which Capriati eventually won 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 in one of the best women's finals in decades.

"I think she played really well that match. Definitely against the top players, she lifts her game," the top-seeded Capriati said. "It's going to be tough, no matter what."

Clijsters, who has won the support of the fans in Melbourne because of her relationship with Australia's No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, said she was looking forward to the rematch.

"Of course," the fourth-seeded Clijsters said, "I would like to play her again and try to get revenge if that's possible."

The Capriati-Clijsters match is the third scheduled in the Rod Laver Arena, immediately following the other semifinal, which pits former world No. 1 players Martina Hingis against Monica Seles. Both semifinals will be shown live on ESPN2 beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Capriati was stretched to three sets by Eleni Daniilidou in the third round, then needed a second-set tiebreaker to finish off Rita Grande in the fourth before easily handling Amelie Mauresmo 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Clijsters, meanwhile, has been in ominous form over the past week and a half, winning all of her matches in straight sets, including a 6-2, 6-3 demolition of her Fed Cup teammate and Wimbledon finalist Justine Henin in the quarterfinals. She has yet to drop a set in the tournament and has lost only 15 games against her first five opponents.

"She has been playing well," Capriati said. "She hasn't really been put to the test at all. I think maybe I've had some tough matches but I feel pretty fresh myself.

"Hopefully I'll come out strong and play like I did (against Mauresmo)."

In the first semifinal, the third-seeded Hingis and eighth-seeded Seles are both trying to recapture past glories at their favorite tournament.

Hingis has made the last five Australian Open finals but has not won a Grand Slam singles title since the 1999 Australian Open. Her days at the top seemed numbered when she lost her No. 1 ranking last October while undergoing ankle surgery, but she has not lost a match since making her comeback in Sydney earlier this month and says she is playing better than ever.

"If you stay still you're going to drop out of there," Hingis said. "But I think I've reached some stage that I haven't been before."

Seles has not won a Grand Slam title in six years but her quarterfinal victory over Venus Williams has raised the prospects she may be about to end her drought. Seles won the tournament three times in a row from 1991-93 when she was the top player in the world, then made an emotional return from her stabbing to win it again in 1996.

Seles has beaten Hingis the last two times they're played, but Hingis had won the 12 of the previous 14 encounters.

"She is a player that is very consistent on both sides, she gets a high percentage of first serves in," Seles said. "She also has two courts, one of them at her house, that are the same surface, so it's probably one of her favorites."