Seles, the second seed from the Unites States, has won the $1.05 million event four straight times, winning 24 straight matches in the process.

"I am just fortunate and very lucky to be here," said Seles, who was sidelined for a month with a left forearm injury. "It would be tremendous (to win five in a row). Winning a match at my home court in Florida five times in a row would be unbelievable, let alone a whole tournament. If it's meant to be, it will happen. If it's not, I still feel very happy where I am."

The top-seeded Hingis, from Switzerland, appears to have her game back in form after a rough period that included a first-round loss in Wimbledon. In spite of her troubles, Hingis has a 50-8 match record in 1999.

The final is a rematch of last year's semifinal, in which Seles won in three sets. In their most recent meeting, Hingis won, 6-2, 6-4, in this year's Australian Open semifinals.

Seles never has missed a final in six appearances at this event. Her title here in 1995 came in her first event after getting stabbed during a match in Hamburg, Germany in 1993.

A former No. 1 player, Seles has a 29-9 record in 1999 with one title and has won 12 of 15 matches on hard courts. She will be vying for her 45th career singles title.

The current world No. 1, Hingis will seek her sixth WTA Tour title of the year and 25th of her career today. She has lost only 18 games in four matches this week.

After losing to Steffi Graf in the French Open final with an embarrassing lack of sportsmanship, Hingis beaten by Jelena Dokic at Wimbledon and took some time off. She returned to action and won the TIG Tennis Classic in San Diego two weeks ago, then reached the semifinals of last week's Acura Classic in Los Angeles.

Seles and Hingis each had to play two matches on Saturday to reach the final of the U.S. Open tuneup event.

Seles completed a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 quarterfinal win over ninth seed Barbara Schett of Austria before a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over unseeded Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France. She was helped by Sidot's service problems and numerous mistakes. Sidot committed 38 unforced errors, was broken three times and was successful on only 30 percent of her first serves.

After crushing fifth seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, 6-1, 6-1, in the quarterfinals on Saturday, Hingis beat third seed Mary Pierce of France, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Hingis committed only 12 unforced errors, broke Pierce once in each set and saved all three break points she faced in the second set.

"I think I can still get better," Hingis said. "I played better in the first two matches and now I'm getting a little bit tired of being in three tournaments in a row. But because I have the experience and the confidence, I win the important points because I believe in myself and hit them where I want to."

First prize is $150,000.