The second-seeded Seles defeated unseeded Anne Gaelle-Sidot of France 6-3, 6-4 Saturday to advance to Sunday's final against Martina Hingis, who beat third-seeded Mary Pierce 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

Hingis, 18, advanced to her first du Maurier final by keeping Pierce on the run, preventing the Frenchwoman from setting up her booming forehand.

``In today's match, I was happy to get it done,'' Hingis said. ``You just have to put her on the run but it's not so easy. She hits the ball so good and hard. You have to make her move and take your chances.''

The players appeared to have fun, laughing and hamming it up for the full house at the National Tennis Centre, most of which supported Pierce, 24, who was born in Montreal.

``You don't usually see her having so much fun,'' Hingis said of Pierce. ``She's very serious and focused, but it probably changes when she's playing here in Canada. She always wants to do well.''

Hingis improved her record against the sixth-ranked player in the world to 6-5.

Hingis lost in the du Maurier semifinal last year to Seles and was eliminated by Pierce in the third round in 1995.

Seles is 27-1 in the tournament and has won 24 straight matches. She said experience has taught her not to put pressure on herself to win consecutive tournaments.

``The only time I ever put pressure on myself was when I was going for all those French Open titles and I said never again in my life will I do that for a tennis tournament or anything in my life,'' said Seles, the French Open champion from 1990-92.

Seles didn't come into this tournament feeling confident about defending her title because she had only five days' practice after injuries kept her idle for several weeks. She said she wasn't confident about the status of a stress fracture in her right foot going into the final.

``It's going to be a very difficult match for me,'' Seles said. ``I played Martina here in Canada last year and I won so I'm sure Martina wants to beat me.''

Hingis is ready to topple Seles from her du Maurier pedestal.

``She's almost unbeaten at this tournament and has won it four times in a row so it's about time someone else gets on the board in the winner list,'' said Hingis with a laugh.

Hingis and Pierce were the most rested of the four semifinalists who all had to play quarterfinal matches early Saturday after they were postponed by Friday's steady rain.

Hingis barely broke a sweat in her quarterfinal, dispatching fifth-seeded Aranxta Sanchez Vicario 6-1, 6-1 in less than an hour and extending her career streak over the Spaniard to 11 straight wins.

Pierce needed to play only three games in her quarterfinal because her match against countrywoman Sandrine Testud was stopped at 6-1, 4-2 on Friday. Pierce finished off Testud in the second set Saturday 6-3.

Seles and Sidot had a tougher road to the semifinals, going three sets with their quarterfinal opponents.

Seles beat ninth-seeded Barbara Schett of Austria 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, while Sidot, one of three French players to make the quarters and the only unseeded player to do so, ousted sixth-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.