Four-times champion Martina Hingis [ Images ] recovered from a poor start to beat third seed Nathalie Dechy [ Images ] 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 and advance to the Pan Pacific Open quarter-finals in Tokyo on Thursday.

The former world number one began her comeback last month, reaching the last eight of the Australian Open [ Images ] in her first Grand Slam since retiring through injury in 2002.

Hingis struggled to hold serve for the first set and a half but the Swiss dug in to force a third set and dominated her French opponent in the decider.

Four-times Tokyo champion Hingis next plays Maria Kirilenko after the Russian's 6-4, 6-4 victory over Serbian eighth seed Ana Ivanovic [ Images ].

Hingis won the Pan Pacific Open in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002, sharing the record for singles titles with American Lindsay Davenport [ Images ].

Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova [ Images ] was another seeded casualty, the number six losing 7-6, 6-2 to Australia's [ Images ] Samantha Stosur [ Images ].

Top seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova [ Images ] will play American Lisa Raymond [ Images ] later on Thursday in the $1.3 million event.