TOKYO (AP) - Australian Open champion Martina Hingis regained the world's top singles ranking today as she beat Jana Novotna 6-3, 6-4 in the Toray Pan Pacific Open semifinals.

The WTA, the world's governing body for the women's professional tennis tour, is scheduled to release a new weekly ranking on Monday.

The Swiss teenager, who won the Australian Open last week, has been ranked second to Lindsay Davenport of the United States since last Oct. 12. Davenport, a semifinalist in the Australian Open, was eliminated in the quarterfinals on Friday by Amanda Coetzer.

Hingis first climbed to the No. 1 rank March 31, 1997, surging ahead of Steffi Graf of Germany.

``I was 16 when I first got the No. 1 rank,'' a jubilant Hingis said. ``I just hope I can now hold on to it longer, maybe as long as I play tennis.''

In the final Sunday, Hingis meets Coetzer, who ousted fourth-seeded Monica Seles 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinals match.

In the day's first match, a couple of errors and a double fault cost Hingis a break in the opening game. But Novotna, her 20-year-old doubles partner, suffered from errors and lost her serve twice to lose the first set.

Novotna fought back with good serves and aggressive play to start the second set, but couldn't keep up the pressure and slipped back into error-prone play.

``Today I was confident going into the match because I have a winning record against Jana,'' Hingis said after beating Novotna for the sixth time in their last seven meetings.

``I thought I started kind of well,'' Novotna said. ``I was up 2-0 in the first, but then I just made too many mistakes, and Martina is too good of a player to allow that to happen.''

In the other match, there were five service breaks in the first set before Coetzer held it for 5-4 and then took control of the match.

``I really have to give credit to Amanda,'' Seles said. ``She played much better today and I just couldn't find my form at all.''

Seles, a former top-ranked player, has slipped to No. 4. Saying she is midway through a two-year shape-up program, Seles feels that she has made some strides since December.

``I had two good tournaments in Australia and here,'' she said. ``Obviously there's still a long way to go to be able to perform well at every match. This year, of course I hope I do well at grand slams and play really consistent tennis throughout.''

``I had never beaten her before,'' the 15-ranked Coetzer said. ``So it really feels good to do that for the first time.''

With regard to Sunday's final, she said, ``I don't think Hingis has any specific weakness. That's why she's been playing good and winning so much. I think I just go out there and do my best.''