LOS ANGELES -- Jennifer Capriati defeated Anastasia Myskina 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 Saturday to claim the last semifinal spot in the WTA Championships.

Justine Henin-Hardenne, who will end the year No. 1 in the WTA Tour rankings, was upset 6-2, 6-4 by Ai Sugiyama in a match that had no impact on the round-robin standings.

Capriati completed play with a 2-1 record in the Black group after letting most of a 5-1 third-set lead evaporate. She closed out the victory on her fourth match point when Myskina netted a forehand service return.

"The more I can pull those matches out, I think the more confidence I'll get,'' said Capriati, who won one tournament this year. "I still don't have any expectations because, really, the way I've been feeling, I can't expect that much.''

The hip injury that made it difficult for Capriati to run Friday was less bothersome.

"It felt a little bit better, definitely could move a little better,'' she said. "I wasn't 100 percent, but it was all or nothing today. I had a difficult time pushing off, but I tried to come to the net a lot more and make the points a little shorter.''

Henin-Hardenne had the same 2-1 record as Capriati in the Black group. She pulled a forehand wide on Sugiyama's second match point to lose.

"I need some rest. I was feeling a little bit tired,'' said Henin-Hardenne, who was coming off two consecutive late-night matches and has been sick this week. "I didn't serve well. It was hard for me to fight and I wasn't focused.''

Amelie Mauresmo didn't have to lift her racket Saturday to advance.

Elena Dementieva defeated Chanda Rubin 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, giving Mauresmo a spot in Sunday's semifinals of the season-ending tournament.

"The situation was pretty weird to watch on TV what's going to happen,'' Mauresmo said from her hotel. "It wasn't going very well, but Dementieva was able to reverse the situation so I'm going to buy her a nice gift.''

"I'm waiting for something,'' Dementieva joked.

Last year, Dementieva replaced Mauresmo in the event when the Frenchwoman had a knee injury.

Mauresmo, Rubin and Dementieva had identical 1-2 records in the Red group, but Mauresmo advanced because she won a set in each of her two losses. Her set record was 4-4, better than Rubin's 3-5 record and Dementieva's 2-5 record.

Defending champion Kim Clijsters also was idle Saturday, having earned a semifinal berth with a 3-0 match record in the Red group.

The top two players in the Red and Black groups advance to the semifinals. The winner earns $1 million.

Mauresmo plays Henin-Hardenne in one semifinal; Clijsters and Capriati are in the other.

"All the pressure is going to be on Kim,'' said Capriati, whose victory was the 401st of her nearly 14-year career.

"It's cool, I guess. I hope I have 400 more, in my next life, maybe,'' she said, smiling.

Myskina closed within 5-4 in the third set and twice had deuce when Capriati served for the match. But she hit a backhand wide off Capriati's drop shot on the first deuce and then missed a forehand to end the match.

"I'm really sad,'' she said. "I just did couple of really stupid mistakes on deciding points. I was feeling a lot of pressure on me, that's why I didn't make it.''

Rubin, who got into the $3 million tournament when injured Venus Williams withdrew, could have earned a semifinal berth if she had beaten Dementieva. She led 6-4, 5-2 and twice served for the match when she was broken by the Russian.

It was the start of a major collapse by Rubin, who lost eight consecutive games over the second and third sets and won just one of the final 12 games in front of an announced crowd of 8,021 at Staples Center.

"It was a blown opportunity,'' said Rubin, who squandered two break points at 5-5 in the third set and lost to Venus Williams in the fourth round of the 2002 U.S. Open. "It's frustrating because there's not a lot of opportunities for me like this. It would have meant a lot to make the semifinals.''

Rubin and Myskina earned $130,000 each for finishing third in their respective four-women groups. They each had 1-2 records.

Dementieva and Sugiyama, who both lost their previous two matches, finished fourth with 1-2 records in their respective groups and collected $100,000 each.

Venus and Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport are missing because of injuries.