Finally, No. 1 Hingis Gets to Play in a Final

One is trying to win her first tournament since early May.

The other is looking for the completion of a California hat trick, riding an 11-match winning streak.

Which player is No. 1 in the world?

By looking at recent results, one might think it is the holder of the two tournament, 11-match winning streak, Lindsay Davenport, not Martina Hingis.

Today, the second-seeded Davenport will get the opportunity to move closer to the top spot, as she plays Hingis in the final of the Acura Classic at Manhattan Country Club at Manhattan Beach.

Davenport and Hingis won their semifinal matches Saturday in straight sets. Thetop-seeded Hingis of Switzerland had a tougher and longer match, defeating third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, 6-4, 6-4, in one hour 23 minutes. Later, Davenport moved forward in decisive fashion, beating fourth-seeded Monica Seles, 6-4, 6-2, despite losing the first three games.

Hingis and Davenport have played 10 times, with Hingis holding a 6-4 edge. They have played in two finals in 1998. Davenport won in straight sets in Tokyo in February, and Hingis won their last meeting, at Indian Wells, in straight sets in March.

“It’s going to be tough,” Davenport said. “I can tell you one thing, Martina is going to want to win and win badly. To prove it to a lot of people.”

For her part, Hingis was excited and simply relieved to be in a final again. She has not won an event since the Italian Open in early May, losing in the quarterfinals and three more times in semifinals since then.

Not a bad year for most players but not in the same category as her superb performance in 1997.

“Three tournaments in a row I got beaten in the semifinals,” Hingis said. “So, finally, I can’t believe I’m in the finals again. I didn’t know how it feels anymore.”

Davenport has had that feeling on a weekly basis in August. On Aug. 2, she defeated Venus Williams in three sets to win the Bank of the West Classic at Palo Alto and then defeated an injured Mary Pierce at the Toshiba Tennis Classic in Carlsbad last Sunday.

Her last loss was to Nathalie Tauziat of France in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Davenport has joked about keeping up with Andre Agassi’s winning streak, but his run ended after two consecutive tournaments.

“I’m going into these matches with no expectations,” she said. “I’m not telling myself, ‘I’ve got to win these matches.’ I really don’t feel any pressure on myself. I’ve done so well the last couple of weeks, whatever happens happens.

“I’m playing well and I don’t want to ruin it and I want to just enjoy it.”

The pro-Seles crowd did not bother Davenport, who usually enjoys strong support here since she is from Newport Beach and grew up in the South Bay area. She was calm and unruffled against Seles, hitting six aces and no double faults.

“There are certain players the crowd is always for--I think Monica and Steffi [Graf] are definitely fan favorites,” Davenport said. “You just have to deal with it. Sometimes, you play better when the crowd is not totally for you. I totally understand it.

“If there’s one player I want to win more than anybody, it’s Monica. I think the whole public feels that way.”

Apart from the opening three games, Seles looked listless and didn’t move well to the ball, spraying ground strokes all over the court. She double-faulted eight times and committed 34 unforced errors.

It looked nothing like the semifinal match between Seles and Davenport a week ago at Carlsbad. Davenport was pushed hard, facing perhaps her toughest test in the 11-match winning streak, winning 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.

That day, Seles was ailing, bothered by a stiff back. The stiffness and spasms cleared up by Wednesday.

But, oddly, the healthy Seles looked far worse Saturday.

“I was fine,” she said. “She just played better today. I had my chances. I let them out of my hand and that was it.”

She looked confused about her erratic showing. It was a lot like her loss to Natasha Zvereva in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, although Davenport beat her from the baseline, not the net.

Seles also made the decision to enter the next event in Montreal, which starts Monday. It will be her fifth consecutive week of tennis, counting the Fed Cup competition in Spain.

Maybe in Montreal she’ll have more answers about the Davenport match.

“I’ll have to think about that, it’s so hard right after you come off the court,” she said. “I had a hard time breaking [serve]. My second serve, at key times, there were so many double faults to lose my service games. When she was up so much, there was no pressure on her.”