VILLANOVA, Pennsylvania Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport, the top two players in the world, produced dominant performances in semifinal victories Saturday at the $535,000 Advanta Championships and will meet in the tournament final for the third time in the last four years.
Top-ranked Hingis defeated fourth seed Nathalie Tauziat of France 6-1 6-2 to reach her 12th tournament final of the year.
Second-ranked Davenport, who lost to Hingis in the 1997 final here but beat her to win the title in 1999, took just 50 minutes to dispatch third seed Conchita Martinez of Spain 6-0 6-1.
Sunday's final will mark the end of the Advanta Tournament, which is moving to Germany after 10 years in the Philadelphia area.
Davenport was the more imposing player on Saturday, and like Hingis reached her 12th final of 2000.
Martinez had entered the match with a 7-4 lifetime advantage over Davenport, although the American had won the last two meetings.
Davenport took command from the outset, breaking Martinez's serve in the first game and losing only seven points in winning the first set in 22 minutes.
"I played great," Davenport said. "This was probably one of the best matches of my career. I was hitting winners, going for my shots. And they were all going in." Shaky Serve Martinez could only watch as Davenport hit winner after winner off the Spaniard's shaky serve.
"I have been having problems with my toss for about a year," Martinez said.
"I'm trying to work on it. It was better this week, but against players who hit so hard, it's difficult." Hingis used a new, more aggressive approach against Tauziat that included numerous net approaches. This was evident during the pivotal game in the second set when the Swiss star, who had just broken Tauziat to go ahead 3-1, faced a break point herself.
She saved the break with a blistering forehand winner, then pressured Tauziat and hit a backhand volley winner to set up game point, which she won when the Frenchwoman hit a forehand over the Baseline.
"Today I had to play more aggressive and not let her get to the net first," Hingis said.
Hingis has won eight of the 11 finals she has played this year, including the three tournaments she played since losing to Venus Williams in the semifinals of the U.S. Open.
Davenport in her 11 finals won at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Linz.
Hingis won the last meeting between the two, in the final at Zurich in October.
Hingis and Davenport are also seeded one-two at next week's season-ending chase championships in New York, where Davenport is the defending champion.
(Reuter)