Venus Williams will face Jana Novotna in the quarterfinals. (Reuters)

WIMBLEDON, England, June 30 — Martina Hingis crawled out of bed at 8 a.m., far from her usual wake-up hour, and hustled out to the All England club still rubbing sleep from her eyes. She is not a fan of morning matches — not that her need to yawn hampered her play. After a bumpy beginning here, Hingis is cruising toward what she hopes will be a second straight title, and she hit no bumps in her fourth-round match late this morning.

On an afternoon that produced two top-quality quarterfinal matchups, Hingis defeated Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6-3, 6-2, today then ceded Court 2 to her teenage rival, Venus Williams. And Williams — who could meet Hingis in the semifinals — steamrollered the woman who knocked her sister, Serena, out of the draw the previous day. Williams beat Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual, 6-3, 6-1, to advance to her third Grand Slam quarterfinal in as many tournaments this year.

Hingis next will face French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the fifth seed, who took three sets to defeat Dominique Van Roost, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, this afternoon. Williams, the seventh seed, plays No. 3 Jana Novotna, a 6-2, 6-3 victor over 10th-seeded Irina Spirlea today.

"I guess I’m happier that Venus is really not a serve-and-volleyer," said Novotna, who is a serve-and-volleyer, "because she really has a huge serve and if she would be coming in all the time, it would be rather difficult."

Men’s singles fourth-round action also produced an interesting quarterfinal matchup: No. 1 Pete Sampras sailed to a straight-set victory only to discover that his next opponent will be Mark Philippoussis, the powerful, unseeded Australian who is making his first appearance in a Grand Slam quarterfinal but must always be considered dangerous on grass. Two more big servers — No. 9 Richard Krajicek and No. 14 Goran Ivanisevic — also moved on. Ivanisevic advanced with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) victory over Todd Martin of the United States.

"They can serve big, and that’s a big threat," said Sampras, whose serve is his chief weapon. "I play Philippoussis tomorrow. He’s got one of the biggest serves on the tour. Anyone that can serve big — Krajicek or Goran or Philippoussis — when they get their serve going and they get hot, it’s very tough to beat them."

Unseeded Jan Siemirink of the Netherlands and Italy’s Davide Sanguinetti rounded out the men’s field of eight with wins, joining Monday winners, No. 10 Tim Henman and No. 3 Petr Korda, who will square off Wednesday on Centre Court.

Hingis has played all her early matches on the stadium courts, but she trotted out to Court 2 late this morning and did her best to remain there as briefly as possible. After fighting her way through the first sets of her first- and second-round matches, she didn’t let a little sleepiness keep her from throwing Tanasugarn off-balance from the start. And she finished in barely more than an hour, with her serve broken once.

"I was still sleeping, you know, in practice," said Hingis, who pointed out that her mixed doubles match today was scheduled third on Centre Court, a time and place she considered better-suited for singles.

This has not been the easiest Wimbledon for Hingis, though one could hardly tell from her beaming face today. Hingis was criticized by Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King for her attitude and her preparation when she arrived here. And despite her status as the top seed and defending champion, Hingis has been overshadowed by the comeback attempt of Steffi Graf — who lost last Friday — and the dynamic Williams sisters, who have so captured the interest of the sporting public that the BBC shunned the featured Centre Court and Court 1 matches early today and instead aired Venus Williams’s match, live, from Court 2. (They also showed Hingis’s match.)

"I’m quite happy," Hingis said, shrugging. "I don’t think I have a bad image out there."

Hingis tabbed Monica Seles as the player to watch in the women’s draw, and she is certainly the player Hingis most fears. Seles, who crushed Hingis in the French Open semifinals, appears even fitter here and has had almost no trouble in the first four rounds. She plays veteran Natasha Zvereva — the only unseeded quarterfinalist, but a dangerous player who upset Graf — Wednesday afternoon. No. 2 Lindsay Davenport and No. 16 Nathalie Tauziat meet in the other quarterfinal in that half of the draw.

Before Hingis can get to Seles, though, she first must face Sanchez Vicario, then Novotna or Williams. Hingis said earlier in this tournament that she does not consider Williams a threat to win the title, and she routinely refuses to recognize Williams as a rival. Williams has other thoughts.

"It would be my first singles Grand Slam" title, said Williams. "And I think I would go on to win many more. I think it all starts right now. There has to be a point when you make up your mind that you’re going to do something."