Hingis set up a meeting between the world's top two players by roaring past fifth seed Mary Pierce of France, 6-4, 6-2, today to reach the final at the $4.95 million Tennis Masters Series of Indian Wells.

Less than two weeks after Hingis and Davenport saw their championship match in Scottsdale, Arizona cancelled by rain, the two will square off in the hot desert sun on Saturday.

On the men's side, second seed and two-time champion Pete Sampras of the United States takes on No. 10 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden tonight in a quarterfinal matchup.

Hingis, the top seed, was overwhelmed by Pierce's heavy groundstrokes at the start of the match and fell behind, 1-4. But the blistering heat apparently took its toll on Pierce and her unforced errors began to mount. Hingis took advantage of her doubles partner's mistakes by reeling off five straight games to take the first set.

An obviously tired Pierce continued to see her game fall apart as she lost her serve in the third game of the second set. Hingis broke again in the fifth game and held for a comfortable a 5-1 advantage. Pierce saved one match point in the seventh game and held, but Hingis served out the match at love to earn a spot in her third final of the season.

Hingis will take a 20-2 season record and a 12-match winning streak into her match with Davenport, who is playing the best tennis of her career and has won the last four meetings with the Swiss teenager.

Davenport has not lost a set in her current winning streak over Hingis, including a victory in the Australian Open final, and is 10-7 lifetime against the top-ranked player.

Regardless of who wins Saturday's match, Hingis will retain her No. 1 ranking when next week's WTA Tour rankings are released.

Seeded fifth, Pierce fell to 5-10 lifetime against Hingis and lost to her doubles partner for the second time this month after falling in the semifinals at Scottsdale. Pierce, who ousted defending champion Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, will move up to No. 4 in the world in next week's rankings.

Davenport, the second seed, advanced to her sixth consecutive WTA Tour final Thursday night with a convincing 6-2, 6-1 victory over unheralded teenager Elena Dementieva of Russia.

Sampras struggled for the second straight day but got past qualifier Byron Black of Zimbabwe, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, in the fourth round on Thursday. A two-time champion, Sampras is 9-1 this season and 22-9 lifetime at this event.

The 28-year-old Sampras' only loss in 2000 came to eventual winner Andre Agassi in the Australian Open semifinals, but he has been hampered by hip and back injuries since. The back injury occurred at last week's Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic in Scottsdale, which forced him out of the tournament.

Enqvist, who turned 26 on Monday, advanced to his second career quarterfinal at this event by defeating Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina, 6-4, 7-5, Thursday. The Swede also reached the round of eight here in 1995. However, he is 1-9 lifetime against Sampras.

Eighth seed Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador stormed into his first ATP Tour semifinal of the season by crushing unseeded Hicham Arazi of Morocco, 6-2, 6-0, earlier today.

In other quarterfinal action, sixth seed Magnus Norman of Sweden plays unseeded Alex Corretja of Spain, who is seeking his first title in more than a year. Also, defending champion Mark Philippoussis of Australia, the 12th seed, faces unseeded Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands.

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