Hingis, the top seed, pounded seventh-seeded Monica Seles of the United States, 6-3, 6-1, and Pierce, seeded fifth, rolled over No. 3 Serena Williams of the United States, the defending champion, 6-2, 6-1.

In men's second-round action, second-seeded American Pete Sampras leads Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-5, as he continues his return from a back injury; and No. 3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia lost to Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, 7-5, 6-2.

Eleven of the other top 16 men were on today's schedule.

Hingis advanced to her third final of the season and her second straight, after last week's match with Lindsay Davenport at the State Farm Classic in Arizona was canceled due to rain.

The Swiss teenager claimed her only outright title of the season and the 27th of her career at the Pan Pacific Open in the first week of February. She lost to Davenport in the finals of the Australian Open a week earlier.

Pierce is in the finals for the first time in five events this season, including last week, when she lost to Hingis in the semifinals.

The 25-year-old has 13 career singles titles, last winning in October at the Generali Ladies Open in Linz, Austria.

Sampras, a two-time champion at Indian Wells, showed no effects of his injury on Tuesday night, when he defeated Andrei Medvedev of Ukraine, 6-4, 6-3.

One of two men ever to win 12 Grand Slam titles, Sampras, 28, withdrew from his second-round match last week at the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic in Arizona.

This is only Sampras' third tournament of the season, after he suffered a hip flexor in his semifinal loss to Andre Agassi at the Australian Open.

Five other men's seeds completed their second-round matches. No. 8 Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador downed Arnaud Di Pasquale of France, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; No. 10 Thomas Enqvist defeated fellow Swede Thomas Johansson, 6-1, 6-4; and Sebastien Grosjean of France ousted 11th-seeded Tim Henman of Britain, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Also, Max Mirnyi of Belarus eliminated No. 15 Greg Rusedski of Britain, 6-4, 6-4, and Byron Black of Zimbabwe upset 16 seed Lleyton Hewitt, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), dropping the Australian to 21-2 this season.

Later today, fifth seed Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil meets Tommy Haas of Germany; No. 6 Magnus Norman of Sweden battles American Michael Chang; seven seed Marcelo Rios of Chile faces Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina; No. 12 Mark Philippoussis of Australia encounters Francisco Clavet of Spain; and 13th-seeded Aussie Patrick Rafter takes on Alex Corretja of Spain.

One other match involving a seeded player is in progress, as No. 14 Albert Costa of Spain is tied with hard-serving Croatian Goran Ivanisevic, 6-2, 6-7 (2-7).

In unseeded action, Fabrice Santoro of France outlasted Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. Also, Hicham Arazi of Morroco leads Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 5-2. Nicolas Escude of France faces Marat Safin of Russia later.

First prize for the men's champion is $400,000. The women's winner pockets $330,000.