The top seed and world No. 1 moved into her second straight final in the region Friday as she defeated seventh seed Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, at the inaugural Dubai Tennis Championships.

Nathalie Tauziat is Hingis' lone obstacle to back-to-back titles in the Middle East. The third seed from France advanced to her first WTA Tour final of the year by defeating Australian qualifier Rachel McQuillan, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Hingis will be meeting a Frenchwoman in the final for the second straight week after beating Sandrine Testud in Sunday's Qatar Open final, which marked the first WTA Tour final staged in the Middle East.

The 20-year-old Hingis improved her season record to 24-2 and will seek her third title of the year and 38th of her career on Saturday. She captured the title at Sydney last month before winning at Qatar last week.

Hingis' only losses this season were to Jennifer Capriati in the Australian Open final and to world No. 2 Lindsay Davenport one week later at the Pan Pacific Open final in Tokyo.

The 33-year-old Tauziat is playing in just her third event of the year after deciding to skip the Australian hardcourt season. She began 2001 by reaching the semifinals at the Open Gaz de France before losing in the second round at Nice in her homeland last week.

Tauziat will vie for her eighth career singles title Saturday, but has never beaten Hingis in five previous meetings.

First prize at this hardcourt event is $80,000.