Williams temporarily put an end to Davenport's recent dominance in her home state and stopped a personal five-match losing streak against her with a 6-4, 7-5 victory in the semifinals of the $520,000 TIG Tennis Classic.

"It's annoying to keep losing to the same player over and over again for no particular reason," Williams said. "I knew at some point that had to change."

Davenport, the top seed and defending champion, suffered only her second loss in her last 20 matches in California, having swept all three summer hardcourt events in her home state last year.

"I don't want to take anything away from how Venus played today," Davenport said. "I was a little off and she was better."

Seeded fourth, Williams will face second seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland in Sunday's final as both seek their WTA Tour-leading fifth title of the year.

Hingis, the 1997 champion, needed only 51 minutes to dump seventh seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-1, 6-2.

Less than a week after the two met in the final of the Bank of the West Classic, Davenport and Williams engaged in an ugly battle that featured a combined eight service breaks, five by Williams.

After Williams took a 3-0 lead in the opening set, Davenport reeled off four straight games. But Davenport was broken in her next two service games as Williams won the final three games to take the set.

In an attempt to level the match, Davenport broke Williams in the opening game of the second set, but Williams broke back in the eighth game.

Serving in the 12th game, Davenport double-faulted to fall behind 15-30 and faced match point at 30-40 after hitting a backhand wide. A forehand long by Davenport gave Williams only her second win in 10 meetings with the current world No. 1.

Ironically, Davenport's only other California loss since last summer came to Venus' younger sister, Serena, who defeated Davenport in the second round at Indian Wells in March.

The Wimbledon champion, Davenport fell to 35-6 this season and lost for only the fourth time in 24 hardcourt matches this season. She will try to win her second straight U.S. Open later this summer.

Hingis has bounced back from back-to-back embarrassing displays at the French Open and Wimbledon, having not dropped a set en route to the final.

The 18-year-old was booed off the court after she repeatedly challenged calls during her three-set loss to Steffi Graf in the final at Roland Garros. Hingis followed that effort in Paris with a surprising 6-2, 6-0 loss to Australian teenager Jelena Dokic in the first round at the All-England Club. This is Hingis' first tournament since her setback in London.

Hingis has won 23 career titles, including five Grand Slams. She won her third straight Australian Open title in January.

First prize is $80,000.