NEW YORK -- Finally, after five days of numbingly predictable U.S. Open results, here was an upset. Andre Agassi, Serena Williams and Pete Sampras had all struggled before finding an equilibrium, but this was serious trouble.

	Martina Hingis says she'll have to play better against her next opponent in order to stay in the U.S. Open.

Croatia's Iva Majoli, injured and queasy, was two points from beating No. 1-seeded Martina Hingis in a third-set tiebreaker on Friday at the National Tennis Center.

"Being two points away from losing, can't get much worse," Hingis said.

In the course of the seven matches that winning a Grand Slam demands, there will be times when a player doesn't feel quite right, when the conditions are trying or an opponent is playing out of his or her mind. The great ones, well, they find a way.

Hingis won the last three points of the two-hour, 25-minute match over the heroic Majoli and advanced to the fourth round, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

"Today's match was not the best I ever played," Hingis said. "I won the last point, and I'm very happy about that."

Majoli, ranked No. 47, and Hingis have a long history. This was their 10th professional meeting, but Hingis had won seven of nine matches. One of the losses was a crushing defeat in the 1997 French Open. Majoli stunned Hingis in the first set, breaking Hingis on set point with a severely angled forehand cross-court winner.

"I was like, 'Whoa, where did that come from?' " Hingis said. "She just attacked me. I was probably a little surprised the way she played in the beginning."

Majoli, aggressive to a fault, had a chance to break Hingis in the sixth game of the second set, but her big forehand sailed long. Hingis broke back in the seventh game and held on for the set.

After a seven-deuce opening game in the third set that went to Hingis, Majoli called for the trainer, who heavily wrapped her ailing right thigh and tended to blisters on her racket hand. Up two breaks, Hingis couldn't maintain and found herself in the uncomfortable position of a tiebreaker.

Since losing in the first round of Wimbledon to the unheralded Virginia Ruano, Hingis has been closely watched. She took five weeks off after a back injury and her summer results have been mixed. She reached two semifinals, San Diego and Los Angeles, but lost to Monica Seles both times.

After winning the 1999 Australian Open, Hingis has gone 0-for-10 in Grand Slams. She was riding a five-year streak of reaching the U.S. Open semifinals, and when Majoli -- even though she said she felt like she was going to throw up -- took a 5-4 lead in the tiebreaker it appeared to be over.

But Hingis drew even when Majoli, growing increasingly immobile, went for a big backhand and netted it. Her wide forehand gave Hingis match point and another too-big forehand caught the net to end the match.

Majoli came out gunning, but as her injuries worsened she started going for even more. She had 47 winners, compared to just 21 for Hingis, but that was more than balanced by 61 unforced errors.

Hingis, who might lose her No. 1 ranking next week to Jennifer Capriati, could use a little of Majoli's fire in her game. Her mother and coach Melanie Molitor has been on her in practice to be more aggressive -- like the woman she named her for, serve-and-volleyer Martina Navratilova. Her serve needs to become bigger to compete with the WTA's strongest players, and Nathalie Tauziat, among others, has urged Hingis to come to net more often.

Hingis, to her credit, has been practicing what they preach. It's just that when the match gets tight she reverts to what she knows best: consistent groundstrokes and a lot of sharp angles.

"You can do it against lower-ranked players sometimes," Hingis said. "Against the top players, it's going to be hard.

"Now I just have to play my game, definitely play better the next match if I want to stay in the tournament."

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.