Despite being cheered on by the home crowd, the seventh-seeded Huber, who was the first German to reach the semifinals since 1995, never posed a serious threat to Hingis, falling 6-3, 6-2.

When the world rankings are updated on Monday, the top-seeded Hingis will have regained her No. 1 ranking from American Lindsay Davenport.

Hingis, the 1998 champion here, lost her top ranking to Davenport five weeks ago at the Ericsson Open in Miami. She picked up 85 points with today's victory for a total of 6,086, now 13 better than the idle Davenport.

The 19-year-old Swiss will meet fourth-seeded and three-time champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain in Sunday's final. Sanchez-Vicario was taken to the limit by eighth seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, eventually pulling out a decisive third set tiebreaker, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4).

Sanchez-Vicario, 28, is making her record 12th appearance at Hamburg. She won this tournament in 1993, 1994 and 1996.

Hingis looks for her fourth title of the year and 29th of career, while Sanchez-Vicario aims for her 28th career trophy.

First prize is $87,000.