Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport each needed less than one hour to record semi-final victories today, setting up a showdown between the world's top two players in Sunday's final of 520,000 US dollars Advanta Championships in Villanova, Pennsylvania, the United States.

Hingis, the 19-year-old from Switzerland who holds the No. 1 ranking and is the top seed, dispatched fourth seed Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-4, 6-2, in 55 minutes tonight to reach her tour-best 12th final of the year.

Earlier today, Davenport, the second seed, crushed fellow American and third seed Venus Williams, 6-1, 6-2, in only 50 minutes. The 23-year-old Californian will be appearing in her seventh final of the year and her third straight at this event.

Hingis droppped the first two games of the match, but broke Tauziat in the third game and again in the ninth game of the match to go up 5-4. She held serve at love in the following game and closed out the set with her second ace of the match.

A pair of service breaks helped Hingis race to a 5-1 lead in the second set. The key point of the set came in the fifth game as Hingis survived three game points on Tauziat's serve and broke at deuce to go up, 4-1.

Davenport, the reigning Wimbledon champion, lost the last two meetings against Williams but was overpowering today. She has won three of five meetings with Williams this year and improved her overall series lead to 9-3.

Davenport, who is competing in her first event since aggravating a wrist injury last month in Filderstadt, Germany, pulled out of the doubles semi-finals tonight due to a mild sprain of her right wrist.

Hingis defeated Davenport, 7-5, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-4), in the 1997 final and has won three of four indoor meetings between the two. Overall, the head-to-head series is tied 7-7 with Davenport winning the last meeting earlier this year in the final at Sydney.

Davenport, who lost to Steffi Graf in last year's final, has won five titles this year with her last tournament victory coming at the Princess Cup in Tokyo in late September. Hingis has won a WTA Tour-leading seven titles including last month's Porsche Grand Prix. (Xinhua)