KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Eighth-seeded Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez Vicario surprised third seed Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic with a 6-1, 6-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the $4.6 million Lipton Championships.

Sanchez Vicario, who improved to 16-1 this season, including a tournament victory at Sydney in January, dispatched Novotna in only 52 minutes. Sanchez Vicario won this event in 1992-93 but lost to Novotna three times last year.

Novotna was seeking her eighth straight match win tonight. She skipped the Australian Open and its warmup events at the start of the season but rejoined the tour in Europe, where she advanced to the semifinals of the Paris Open and the final of Faber Grand Prix in Hannover, Germany, before capturing the EA-Generali Open in Austria.

EARLIER TODAY, RUSSIAN teenager Anna Kournikova knocked off a top-10 player for the third straight match, scoring a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 quarterfinal victory over American Lindsay Davenport. She will now face Sanchez Vicario in the semifinals.

The 16-year-old Kournikova, seeded 23rd, whipped fifth seed and two-time champion Monica Seles of the United States on Monday and followed Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-0 triumph over ninth seed Conchita Martinez of Spain. She avenged a three-set loss to Davenport in just her second match of the year.

Davenport was derailed in her effort for a fifth consecutive semifinal, suffering her fourth straight loss to a teenager. Five of Davenport's six losses this year have come to teens -- two to Hingis, one each to Venus and Serena Williams and today's loss.

First prize is $235,000.