The French crowd roared for Amelie Mauresmo with the passion and frenzy usually seen at a soccer game, and hissed Martina Hingis at every chance. And when their bitter rematch was over, Mauresmo had the biggest victory of her career, and the world's No. 1 player was left shaken and despondent.

In a simmering replay of their contentious Australian Open final last month, Mauresmo avenged her loss in Melbourne with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory Friday in the quarterfinals of the $520,000 Gaz de France Open.

``It was like a soccer match, it could have been France against Brazil,'' the 18-year-old Hingis said. ``They were incredible, even if they were against me. My game fell apart.''

The match reopened wounds from the Australian Open, when Hingis described the muscular Mauresmo, who is gay, as ``half a man.'' Although Hingis and Mauresmo tried to play down the episode in the days prior to Friday's match, the exuberant crowd was in no mood to forget. Throughout the match, the fans cheered the 19-year-old Frenchwoman, drawing repeated requests from the umpire for quiet.

They waved banners that read, ``We love you Amelie'' and ``We're behind you Amelie.''

They hissed Hingis during introductions and booed every time she struck the ball during warmups. Hingis had beaten Mauresmo 6-2, 6-3 in the Melbourne final, and after taking the first set in 24 minutes Friday, it appeared a similar result awaited.

But Mauresmo seemingly gained strength from the crowd, regrouping from her poorly hit strokes and serves of the opening set to beat Hingis for the first time in four attempts.

``It was the best win of my career,'' Mauresmo said. ``The atmosphere was very special.'' In the second set, putting her size advantage to good use, Mauresmo was a different player.

In the third set, she broke Hingis while leading 4-3 and finished the match in 90 minutes. ``It is really wonderful to beat the world No. 1,'' said Mauresmo, ranked 18th in the world. `

`In my other matches against Hingis, I wasn't as strong as I am today. I have more confidence now.'' Mauresmo said she is no longer concerned with the comments by Hingis, a woman who describes herself as one of the ``Spice Girls'' of tennis. ``You just have to forget it,'' Mauresmo said. ``What's past is past. It is time to look to the future.''

She advanced to Saturday's semifinals against Dominique van Roost, along with Serena Williams and Nathalie Dechy. Williams beat No. 7 seed Julie Halard-Decugis of France 6-2, 6-3 and will next face another French player, Nathalie Dechy. Dechy, unseeded, downed friend and doubles partner Amelie Cocheteux 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

Van Roost was in excellent form in the second set in beating Russia's Elena Likhovtseva 7-5, 6-0. Van Roost, the No. 3 seed from Belgium, regrouped against the No. 8 seed after serving eight double faults in the first set.

``I was a bit scared of serving too short in the first set so made a lot of double faults,'' said van Roost, the runner-up in this event last year. ``But my serving improved in the second set and after it was 2-0 she didn't play well.''