World Sailing Championships in the United Arab Emirates.

Taking part in the inaugural women's match racing finals, Lewin and her crew yesterday finished the round-robin portion in first place among the 21 other boats from a dozen nations.

Now comes the pressure part as Lewin, her sister Peta, Leatrice Roman and Lisa Neasham head into the medal round today against the number-eight ranked boat, skippered by Christine Briand of France.

Dorte Jensen of Denmark finished just behind Lewin and will meet team-mate Marie Klok, who was seventh. Third-place Shirley Robertson of Great Britain sails against number six Betsy Alison of the US and number four Helena Strang of Sweden goes against the Netherlands' Klaartje Zuiderbaan in the best-of-three competition.

If all goes according to form, it will be Lewin and Strang in the semi-finals on Thursday, with the best-of-five final on Friday.

Lewin, the world's top-ranked woman according to the ISAF points system, yesterday boosted her round-robin mark to 13-3 in cool and windy -- 10-18 knots -- conditions in Dubai, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

She finished with an average of .81 points per race, the same as Jensen.

Briand had a .67 average.