INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- Martina Hingis, trying for her second title in the tournament in four years, beat Monica Seles 6-3, 6-2 Thursday in the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open.

Hingis will meet Daniela Hantuchova in Saturday's final. Hantuchova, an 18-year-old from Slovakia, beat Emmanuelle Gagliardi 4-6, 6-0, 6-4.

Hingis' victory continued her domination of Seles, the 1992 Indian Wells champion. The 21-year-old Swiss star ran her record against the 28-year-old Seles to 15-4.

Seles beat Hingis both times they met last year, but Hingis has won all three of their matches this year.

Hingis won the Indian Wells title in 1998 by beating Lindsay Davenport in the final.

Earlier Thursday, Pete Sampras struggled but made it to the men's quarterfinals with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 decision over Fabrice Santoro. Top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Jan-Michael Gambill.

Santoro had won three of six previous matches against Sampras.

``He gives a lot of guys problems, including myself,'' Sampras said. ``He's very experienced, a smart player. He's very, very quick and returns well.''

Sampras appeared on his way to an easy win after breezing taking the first set, but his game turned sour in the second against the Frenchman.

After building a 5-2 lead in the third set, Sampras lost the next three games before getting back on track. He held service to go up 6-5, then broke Santoro -- who doubled faulted on the final point.

``I missed a lot of volleys, but I was able to scrap out of the match,'' Sampras said. ``Competition gets tougher, so I hope I can raise my level a little bit in the next couple of days.''

Hantuchova assured herself of breaking into the top 20 in the women's rankings for the first time when they come out next week. Beginning the year at No. 38, she jumped to 18th by reaching the final at Indian Wells.

Also seeded 18th, she earlier defeated third-seeded Justine Henin 6-3, 6-3, then downed No. 12 Lisa Raymond 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

A year ago, Hantuchova lost to Rita Kuti Kis in the first round of the tournament.

This time, the young Slovak looked nervous in the first set against Gagliardi, spraying her groundstrokes. She came back to dominate the second set as her Swiss opponent began making mistakes.

A 5-foot-11, 123-pounder who covers the court well, Hantuchova took the match after holding serve to go to 5-4, then breaking Gagliardi.

Hantuchova needed just one winner in the final game, a forehand down the line for a 30-0 lead. Her other four points came on unforced errors by Gagliardi, including a forehand volley that sailed long on the final point.

Hantuchova, who comes from a tennis-playing family with a computer scientist father and toxicologist mother, joined the tour when she was 16 and is still looking for her first singles title.

In another men's match, second-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov defeated Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6(8), 6-4.