Seeking her fourth title here in five years, Hingis posted a 6-3, 1-6, 6-0 victory over eighth seed Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, who was making her third semifinal appearance here but first since 1995.

Davenport, seeded second from the United States, got past third seed Anna Kournikova of Russia, 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, in a rematch of their Australian Open quarterfinal encounter on January 23. Davenport won that match and three in a row to improve to 7-3 lifetime against Kournikova.

On Sunday, Hingis will try to beat Davenport for the second time this season after posting a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 victory in the final of the adidas International at Sydney in January. However, Daveport owns a 12-10 edge in the all-time rivalry.

Hingis, who has been stretched to three sets in her last two matches, raised her season record to 17-1 with Saturday's win. The 20-year-old from Switzerland is coming off a loss to Jennifer Capriati in the Australian Open final after defeating sisters Venus and Serena Williams back-to-back to earn a spot in the championship match.

In addition to the three titles she has won here (1997, 1999-2000), Hingis finished as the runner-up in 1998.

Kournikova, still searching for that elusive first singles title, saw her title drought reach 84 straight tournaments with her loss to Davenport.

The 24-year-old Davenport, who lost to Capriati in the Australian Open semifinals, dropped just seven games before her one-hour, 27-minute encounter with Kournikova.

Davenport is making her sixth straight appearance at this tournament, taking the title in 1998 and finishing second in 1995.

First prize at the $1.188 million event is $175,000.